Clap When You Land
2020 • 432 pages
Ratings68
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings68
Average rating4.2
The stunning New York Times bestselling novel from the 2019 Carnegie Medal winning, Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author of THE POET X. 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Winner of CLAP WHEN YOU LAND. Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance - and Papi's secrets - the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other. In a dual narrative novel in verse that brims with both grief and love, award-winning and bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
Reviews with the most likes.
4.5 but I'll rate it as a 5 here. The audiobook is EXCELLENT - Acevedo reads Yahaira (I could listen to her perform the phone book) and Melania-Luisa Marte holds her own reading Camino. As a novel in verse, the performance of the verses really lends emotional heft. Acevedo's characters are always so alive and vibrant, and within the context of her story she always hits universal themes: family obligation and the meaning of family, whether it's through blood or choice, what it means to be a teenage girl in the world and how you express “femaleness” in varying ways, voices and who is represented and has a right to be heard. My only minimal critique is that I wanted just a bit more before the book ended. It built to the meeting of the sisters, and a dramatic confrontation between a lurking pimp and all the women in this new family, but I wanted just a bit more expansion of their lives intersecting before the end. I love that Acevedo built this story around a real incident of a plane crash that didn't receive the national attention it should have - I had never heard about it until now.
Goodreads needs a half star system! This read was a 4.5 for sure. Elizabeth has a way with words and every sentence flowed perfectly. I related to this story and this is possibly the only story where I could relate to both characters. Growing up hispanic, not knowing much spanish, being queer, secret sister... yes been there dealt with it! Elizabeth captures everything just perfectly. Words cannot describe how good this story was.
Why did I not give this 5 stars? Well Papi was a garbage human being. He had 2 families and treated his wife in NYC like trash. He literally only married her to prove he was good enough to marry the general's daughter. Really? What a scumbag. Also, these girls are weeping over him, wondering how he would have felt and thought. Who gives a shit about him? Trash human being. Most of the men (minus Nelson) were trash. Tio? Trash. You knew your brother was garbage and didn't tell him so? El Cero? MEGA TRASH.
I recommend 100% and I can't wait to read more of Elizabeth Acevedo's work.
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POPSUGAR 2021 READING CHALLENGE - A book about a subject you are passionate about • Sisterhood.
If you are not from an island,you cannot understand what it means to be of water:to learn to curve around the bend, to learn to rise with rain,to learn to quench an outside thirstwhile all the whileyou grow shallowuntil there is not one dropleft for you.I know this is what Tia does not say. Sand & soil & sinew & smiles:all bartered. & who reaps? Who eats?Not us. Not me.
Gorgeous. As always, I am miles behind and am now intent on catching up with Acevedo's oeuvre.
