Vida by Patricia Engel

Vida by Patricia Engel

Sparse, raw. Engel can be succinct because her word choice is expert. I loved Sabina’s imperfections, her doubt, her confusion, her humanness. Engel is one of a new generation ushering in the literary tradition of American coming of age protagonists with one foot still in another place and a stained America. I read this book during the same period as I listened to T Kira Madden narrate her own memoir and the crossover was magical. What may have seemed like a particular experience in an earlier decade, is becoming universal with writers like Engel are giving readers insight into the experience. Grateful for this book.