Make Your Home Among Strangers Book Review

Going back and forth between Rawlings and Miami Lizet is constantly trying to fit in, shaping the way she acts in each place. Lizet goes through a difficult time trying to figure out who she is. She feels like everyone around is constantly judging her, and as she grows her peers and family members make a big impact on who she becomes. 

At the very beginning of the book, it was clear that Lizet felt as though she didn’t belong at Rawlings. She came from a “poor” city, and everyone around her was different than what she was used to at home. Lizet felt like everyone at Rawlings was smarter and “meant” for college when she had no clue what she was doing. “Everyone else just seemed to know stuff and I - I don’t. It’s like I’m the only one.” (pg 19) 

Along with feeling like she didn’t fit in she also struggled with being Latina at a predominantly white school. Every time she would meet someone new they would always ask where are you from? “Miami, I'm from Miami. Oh, they'd say, But where are you from from? I was from from Miami, but eventually, I learned to say what they were trying to figure out” She was Cuban but she wasn’t born in Cuba, though as her time passed at Rawlings she let herself become that Cuban girl because it was easier. “..to be included in conversation even if I totally didn’t understand the part I was playing. When everyone around you thinks they know what your life is like, it’s easier to lay into that idea.” (pg 65)

As Lizet grew at Rawlings and gained lots of knowledge, the way she spoke changed. She spoke more properly and used bigger words. When visiting Miami her family kept criticizing her about how she was acting and who she had become. “Leidy laughed back that I should quit talking like a white girl.” (pg145) Receiving negative comments from her sister and mom, made her feel even more like she didn't know who she was. Lizet felt like she was changing herself too much and it never seemed good enough, at Rawlings or at home.  “I didn't want to see myself anymore. I recognized it as exactly that, even at the beginning of it, when I couldn't name it: Lizet playing a part. ..cover me by not covering me, would turn me back into El, but I was separate from her now, aware I was putting her on, and that colored everything.” (pg 223)

Growing up I often had the same struggles as Lizet. I am bi-racial and never felt like I fit in anywhere. I was constantly bullied because I wasn’t enough of one race or the other, so around certain people, I was constantly trying to change who I was for them. Even while doing that I was always being told “ you’re not black enough or you’re not Mexican enough”, and many other comments like “you act like a white girl, or if you’re so Mexican why isn’t your Spanish good”. All of these things changed me as a person.

Another way I relate to Lizet and struggled to learn who I was, was from kindergarten to eighth grade I was in an all-girls private school. When it was time for me to go to high school I had to go to a public school in an area I wasn’t used to. People tore me into pieces there. Being in public school opened my eyes to the real world. I was able to meet and learn about all kinds of people. My transition was an experience I will never forget. 

Being in high school made me realize that I am who I am because of my race. I feel blessed now to be able to say I am biracial and that I know the background of more than one culture. Many people don’t have the opportunity to say that or to know what it’s like growing up with two completely different and strong cultures.

Our identities are impacted by who we surround ourselves with, our parents' and peers' judgment, our culture, and social labels, and many more things. They all change the way we view ourselves and have a big impact on who we want to be, and how we want to be perceived. There are many factors that play into who we are as individuals, but every human is beautiful and unique in their own way.

Work Cited

Crucet, Jennine Capó. Make Your Home Among Strangers. First edition. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2015. Print.