Down to the Bone [Hardcover]

Mayra Lazara Dole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2008

Here's what it means to be a tortillera.

It means you're a girl who loves girls.

Which means you get kicked out of Catholic school faster than Mother Superior Sicko can say "immoral."

Which means your wacko Mami finds out.

Which means you're kicked to the curb with nowhere to go, and the love of your life is shipped off to Puerto Rico to marry a guy.

But this is Miami, and if you have a bighearted best friend and a loyal puppy at your side, and if your broken heart is still full of love, you just might land on your feet.

In a first novel as crazy, joyful, hilarious, and painful as your first love, Mayra Lazara Dole goes beyond the many meanings of tortillera to paint a vivid picture of a girl who gets kicked out of home only to find a new kind of family.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—When a nun at her Catholic school confiscates and reads aloud in class a note to Laura Amores from another girl, declaring her love, the teen is kicked out of her school and her home. Soon after, Laura's devoted girlfriend yields to family pressure and accepts a marriage proposal. Abandoned, heartbroken, and confused, Laura takes refuge with another friend and struggles to find a home and identity in both the straight and the gay world. Her story isn't uncommon in the queer-teen-lit canon, but Dole's infusion of lively, spicy Cuban-American culture set against a hot Miami setting makes it rise above many other titles in the genre. While some of the action occasionally feels blunt and forced, Laura's unique, spunky attitude fleshes out the more dramatic bits and keeps the pages turning. Readers will relish the teen's descriptions of the food, fury, and passion that make up her life. Dole captivatingly colors Laura and her entourage with a rainbow of multicultural dialects, bits of Spanish, and slang. Teens will cheer for Laura in her struggle to find herself and a family.—Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* After being expelled from her Catholic school for being lesbian, Lauri, 17, is thrown out by her Cuban mom for being “abnormal.” Worst of all, Lauri’s beloved partner, Marlena, leaves and does her family’s bidding by marrying a man. Lauri gets a job and finds a home with her straight, black friend, Soli, and she begins to wonder if she can fall in love with a guy and regain her family and acceptance. At the same time she has her own prejudices to overcome. The dialogue is fast and funny in this debut novel, which is set in Miami’s Cuban American community. Laura’s first-person, present-tense narrative shows and tells the farce and the sorrow at home, and teens will recognize some of the traditional prejudices, as well as the joy of friendship and the happiness of real love (“my smile barely fits in my face”). Supportive precisely because it is laugh-out-loud irreverent (in one hilarious scene Laura and Soli mock their tacky quinces with their pink-ruffled gowns), this breakthrough novel is sure to be welcomed. Grades 9-12. --Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060843101
• ISBN-13: 978-0060843106
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mayra Lazara Dole was born in Havana Cuba and raised in Miami. Dole's Americas Award Commended Title, Down to the Bone (HarperCollins), received a starred ALA Booklist review, was nominated for ALA Best Books for YA 2009 and made the following lists: Booklist's Top Ten Novels, ALA Rainbow List and CCBC Top Choices. The author has worked as a library assistant, hairstylist, ESL tutor and landscape designer. Her essays, Cuban dialect poems and short stories have been published by Hunger Mountain: the Vermont College Fine Arts Journal of the Arts, Cipher Journal: A Journal of Literary Translation, Palabra: A magazine of Chicano and Latino literary Art, Velvet Lesbian Magazine, Sinister Wisdom and other paper magazines.

Mayra's BLOG: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/600... [close]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feels Authentic, July 10, 2008

By 

Pam - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down to the Bone (Hardcover)

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
Laura Amores is a tortillera -slang for "lesbian" in Miami's Cuban-American social scene, and a term either of endearment or a slur, depending on who is using it. But once Laura's secret is out, a tortillera is all Laura seems to be-to her mother, the nuns at her Catholic school and even some friends. Laura is thrown out of school and even from her house: "I'm sorry, Laura, but I can't continue loving you if you stay gay," Mami says as she literally pushes her daughter out the door. Luckily, Laura meets "bois" who introduce her to Miami's Cuban gay scene, and her best friend shares her home and family, unconditionally. Laura remains reluctant to accept her gay identity, however, and her exploration of possible relationships-with a boi, a "delicious" young woman and a boy she dates in hope of restoring herself to her mother's good graces-form the main arc of this honest, intense and at times moving romance. Using Spanish colloquialisms and slang, this debut author pulls off the tricky task of dialect in a manner that feels authentic. As Dole tackles a tough and important topic, her protagonist will win over a range of teen audiences, gay and straight. Ages 14-up. (Mar.)--Publisher's Weekly

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In or Out?, July 8, 2008

By 

Angelia Menchan "acvermen.blogspot.com" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down to the Bone (Hardcover)

Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole gives us a look at the disenfranchisement of gay and lesbian teens, particularly in the Cuban community. Seventeen year-old Laura has fallen in love with Marlena. They have been involved in a committed relationship for two years, however, neither of their families know. That all changes when Laura is caught reading a love letter from Marlena by one of the nuns at her Catholic high school. Not only does the nun retrieve the letter, she reads it to the entire class. Immediately, Laura becomes an outcast in the eyes of her friends. When she goes home she discovers that her mother was notified and she is immediately cast from her home.

Laura goes to live with her friend, Soli and her mother, Viva, who are more open-minded and loving but she never stops yearning to go home. Laura is unable to tell anyone that she is a lesbian, so for most of the novel she lives a closeted lifestyle. The reader is allowed to feel Laura's pain as she loses the people in her life and also her joy as she matures. Down to the Bone was filled with the angst and drama young people endure when their lifestyle choices are different than their families expect. Ms. Dole does a fine job of allowing us a peek into the Cuban, gay and lesbian teen culture without ever being sexually titillating or graphic. The author also provides us a clear view of the pain these teens must go through to be themselves. I recommend Down to the Bone to teens older than sixteen and other readers who can learn from the subject matter.

Angelia Menchan
APOOO BookClub

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PRACTICALLY PARADISE, July 9, 2008

By 

Diane Chen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down to the Bone (Hardcover)

Mayra Lazara Dole's Down to the Bone will be talked of everywhere this year in the GLBT blogs, but should be purchased for all high school collections. (Yes, I know I'm an elementary school librarian this year, but this book was amazing and I couldn't resist reading it.)

Controversial? Sure. More explicit than most novels I see daily? Sure. But, an absolutely amazing book that kept me reading and avoiding all phone calls. This book can't be pigeon-holed. It is a debut novel written in response to the questions, "Where are all the lesbian books? Where's the racial diversity?"

Laura is a Cuban-American girl in Miami who is caught reading a love letter from a girl while at her Catholic school. As she is ejected from the school, her mother rejects her "deviance" and throws her from the family. Laura struggles to discover herself, her place in a family, and her sexual preferences while trying to deny and change herself. Her struggle and decisions are realistic.

Mayra Lazara Dole involves you so deeply with this character that I found myself cheering for Laura to accept her feelings and to stop trying to be what others expected. Teenage love angst, relationships with peers, dropping out of school, and trying to maintain family sibling relationships despite all obstacles. This book was an amazing debut. It is joyous, hilarious, fun and stretches you emotionally. The descriptions of Miami were lively and we were able to glimpse life in Cuba and Puerto Rico from the conversations of characters. A Refreshing and needed title.

Count how many times I said "Amazing". Get the picture. --Diane Chen. Practically Paradise - Blog on School Library Journal