Malcriada & Other Stories — Lorraine Avila

“La verdad es que yo te e tratado mal. Mal porque tengo miedo. Miedo porque yo era como tú, llena de ideas y verdad, y por mi sabiduría lo perdí todo. Tú no eres Malcriada. Lo que pasa es que tu sabes demasiado.”
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In the middle of the Caribbean Sea, aboard an illegal voyage from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, a twelve year old learns her name; a former cacao farmer finds a constellation on his lover's thighs; best friends become strangers and find the essence of themselves in the face of deception; an old man exchanges his homeland for a New York City bodega storefront; preteen boys grapple with authority; female cousins come to terms with their first shared sexual experience; an alcoholic woman finds serenity at the bottom of the sea; feminism is deconstructed by opposing views; on the back of a motorcycle, self-awareness is found; and a woman discovers that healing is a series of choices.

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“My mother didn't teach me dependency, I want to yell and enunciate. I cannot force myself to need you. Mami taught me to use my tongue like a sword, and I haven't sharpened it in years. Too afraid, I find myself, to pain him, to say things that might strike him the wrong way. Some feelings just don't translate. “
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“ You know that Malcriadas can love the world awake.”