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Showing posts with the label The Turkish Lover

BOOK OF THE MONTH: CONQUISTADORA…and …Q&A with author ESMERALDA SANTIAGO

   Ana is a girl “cloistered and swaddled in the expectations of her class, but she identified with the audacity of the conquistadores, with the confidence that, if they turned their backs on country, family and custom, they could make fortunes and more exciting lives through the work of their hands, the might of their swords. The more she read, the more Ana longed for a world beyond her balcony….” CONQUISTADORA By Esmeralda Santiago Alfred A. Knoft BOOK SUMMARY:   Gloriosa Ana Maria de los Angeles Larragoity Cubillas Nieves de Donostia – aka Ana – is a young Spanish senorita at the beginning of the 19th century. She discovers the diaries of her ancestors and is entranced by their stories of Puerto Rico and Ponce de Leon. Ana is eager to conquer worlds of her own and to visit the Caribbean paradise; she finds a way in the handsome Argoso twin brothers – Ramon and Inocente. She marries Ramon, the oldest, and the trio moves to a sugar plantation on the island....

THE TURKISH LOVER

by Esmeralda Santiago Like the latest installment of the Harry Potter series, Esmeralda Santiago’s third memoir has also been eagerly awaited. Fans met the young Esmeralda in WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN, which documented her trip from Puerto Rico to New York. Now, Esmeralda is 20 and in love. She runs away from home with her Turkish Lover, a man 20 years her senior. For the next seven years, her world will revolve around his. She will forsake family and friends for her lover’s sake, until one day she begins to realize that she has needs of her own and desires of her own that he cannot comprehend. And so Esmeralda is reborn and freed. Questions to discuss: 1) Do you think Esmeralda was abused by her lover? 2) How would you describe Esmeralda's relationship with her mother?