Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s debut novel conjures up a wry, undocumented protagonist unlike any other.
When a debut novel is published, the new title inevitably tempts comparison to the back list of other authors. When the writer is Latin American and formerly undocumented, the suggestion might be the latest undocumented memoir or the work of Latino icons: Gabriel García Márquez or Octavio Paz; Isabel Allende or Juan Rulfo. Always
“Catalina” recounts a year in the life of a self-aware, undocumented Harvard senior who’s been coming of age since she was 5. Wry and perspicuous, the protagonist of the book’s title suffers no illusions as she approaches the end of her collegiate career. She is not reminiscent of Scout Finch. She isn’t Holden Caulfield, nor Esperanza Cordero. The question is not to whom one compares Catalina, but who will follow her.
“Four years at Harvard had been presented to me like a trip to Disney World to a terminally ill child and the end was coming,” she thinks. “I could not be legally employed after graduation.” She resolves the problem by only taking unpaid internships. “So long as I was enrolled in school and lived with my grandparents,” Catalina explains, “I could do as many unpaid internships in media as I wanted. They could be like Pokemon cards.
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