Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsExcellent book
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2019
I loved this book and I love Naomi, who, still suffering from the effects of abuse and abandonment by her mother several years before, is shaken up again when the mother drops back in to Naomi's life, intending to take her back for the welfare money she can get, while abandoning again little Oz, who has a number of physical difficulties. One of the reviewing summaries stated that the mother was "demonized" in the story, but I find that offensive, since there are countless parents who were and are just like that, who use and abuse their children. By that same token, the family court judge, even with all the evidence of Skyla's "parenting" from everyone who knew and worked with the children over the years, and also their father, who financially supported them, was all ready to dismiss all of it and grant Skyla custody only because she was the natural mother. Even when Naomi was able to find her voice and tell the judge everything, including about the hellish life she would have with Skyla, the judge only had a problem with Skyla only wanting Naomi and not Oz. The POV that children belong with their mothers no matter what kind of parent she is, and dismissing those who wrapped the children in love and support, is out of the 1950s. I loved how the author brings the reader into the lives of the Mexican relatives, experiencing and learning about their culture, and how Naomi found her true self there.
