Customer Reviews

How to Be a Chicana Role Model

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

When I read Chicana falsa, I loved Michelle Serros's sense of humor, and her ability to make the best of a negative situation, and her collection of advice on How to be A Chicana Roll model was not a dissapointment. I looked forward to this novel and I am sad that it has ended. Thank you Michelle for making light of a serious issue, showing not weakness but a lot of strenght. Look forward to your next one.

I just put the book down, I can't wait to read Chicana Falsa. The best thing about the book is that it dealt with the life of a young and struggling Chicana with humor. For the non-Chicanas, it is a great glimpse into our world.

"How to be a Chicana Role Model" was really an inspiration to read, considering I personally had trouble thinking that others could view chicanos and role models in a single sentence. Being a chicana myself, I started thinking like what others viewed me as and became insecure. I had trouble identifying as american because i don't look caucasian and I couldn't be seen as mexican by my own people, because i don't tend to fit the stereotype. I felt like "Ni de aqui, ni de alla". I appreciate how Michele Serros addresses that issue in both her books and how she really wants the world to know that she is proud of what she is. I know that makes me as a latina,proud right along with her. As a college student here at UC Berkeley I totally recommend this book to EVERYONE! If you aren't chicano, so what? At least you will experience through michele what being chicano is all about. she brings her story to life! By the way, Thank you cris for recommending this book to me!

I thought this book was cleaver, hysterical and insightful. After reading some of the reviews I thought it was gonna be subpar, but, I found it to be an excellent easy read. With some very interesting metaphors and ironies. I really liked the chapter about living in mexico with white girls ("white socks"). I thought that was fantastic. I can really relate to many of the experiences in this book. I highly recommend this book, don't let the reviews scare you off. it's easy to be an critic these days.

I love this book. I purposely went to the bookstore looking for a book written by a Chicana/Latina that I could relate to. I am not an immigrant, although my parents are. I did not grow up in the barrio. As a matter of fact I was known as the "coconut" in high school. This was a series of stories about a young woman trying to do her thing and she happens to be Chicana. It is not her entire identity. Finally, a book I can relate to.

I'm always searching for new "reads" and something that is stimulating from up and comming Latino/a writers. After finding Serros recent book, I could not put it down. She writes clearly and is very imaginative. It is also great to see her Oxnard/el Rio hometown upbringing through out the book - being from Oxnard myself I could definetly relate! This book is also a great and important read not only for Latinas but Latinos as well. If there is one comment that I would make is that Michele needs to start expanding her content - with her creativity I would like to see her writing talent in the fiction arena.

I loved reading this book. It was really funny and hard to put down.

I have just finished reading Serros' "How to Be a Chicana Role Model" and I loved it. As corny as it may sound, I found myself smiling, crying, and then smiling again while reading one page of her book. I am able to relate to so many of her comments about her birthplace, as I too am originally from Oxnard. I also feel a sort of embarassing kinship to her since she is/was a Latina w/out the working knowledge of the Spanish language as am I. Now living in Northern California all I have to do is pick up either of her books and feel right at home as she quips about her junior high or snobby girls at Camarillo high school. I can't wait to read more of her stuff!

A lot of excellent chicana/o literature has been surfacing as of late, and I was very excited to get my hands on this selection of short stories. Some of Michele's stories are funny, even silly at times, and other stories plainly reveal the day-to-day prejudice one has to endure becuase of the color of one's skin. However, Michele's writing is a bit juvenile and simplistic. I would recommend this book to a younger audience as some adults may find it a bit tedious and boring.

After perusing the other reviews of this book posted by other Amazon users, I felt compelled to respond to some of the scathing critiques that I noticed. I've noticed that several readers compared Serros' writing to that of Sandra Cisneros and Ana Castillo, and must concede that indeed her writing is unlike those authors. However, her aim as a writer does not seem intended to emulate some of the more sophisticated Chicana authors such as the aforementioned two; otherwise, she would have incorporated an abundance of big words into her stories and attempted to give her writing as much of an intellectual tone to it as possible. Serros' intention seems to be the opposite; she writes candidly and in a manner that will make her book readable by people of all educational levels and social classes.
From what I gathered from reading the book, her aim isn't to provide stories told from the perspective of some kind of distinguished intellectual, but from a down-to-earth Chicana who is just trying to get by in this world while pursuing her passion of writing. She seems to have written "How To Be a Chicana Role Model" with the objective of appealing to even those who may not actually enjoy reading most books because her stories are told from the heart and are easy for youth to relate to.
If you take the book for what it is and are able to bear that in mind while reading it, I'm sure you will immensely enjoy "How To Be a Chicana Role Model." It is just the right mixture of humorous and poignant, and will have you cracking up at some parts while leaving you with watery eyes at other parts. In all honesty, I am never able to set this book down once I pick it up because no matter how many times I read it, I am drawn in all over again by how entertaining yet moving Serro's writing truly is.