Gabi, however, is quick to question her mother’s indoctrination and to point out the contradictions in their own behavior and in what they expect from her brother. Her naiveté about sex and relationships makes her susceptible to her mother’s and Tia Bertha’s religious banter about womanhood-good girls keep their legs closed and go to heaven. The dichotomy of the “good girl/bad girl” is a burden that follows Gabi throughout the novel. The opening lines of the novel reveal that Gabi’s mom had her out of wedlock and has since been shunned by the grandmother. Gabi: A Girl in Pieces covers an array of themes, like sexuality, body image, addiction, coming out, writing, healing, and teen pregnancy, among others, that attempt to speak to the experiences of Latino youth in the United States. Poetry and letter writing give Gabi an opportunity to process all of the difficulties that she and her friends endure throughout the year. ![]() To top it all off, the Hernandez family must also contend with the father’s meth addiction which ultimately kills him. By the end of the novel, Gabi has had her first kiss, broken up with her first boyfriend, and has sex with her second boyfriend. Gabi, who is still a virgin, is taken aback but comforts Cindy in her time of need and together they discover that Cindy is in fact pregnant. Cindy, Gabi’s other best friend, also confesses to Gabi that she had sex with German and might be pregnant. Instead, she is more concerned about his parents’ reaction. In a small piece of paper Sebastian writes, “I’m gay,” which does not surprise Gabi. The novel opens with a fantastic obsession for hot wings and with Sebastian, Gabi’s best friend, coming out to her. ![]() Gabi is a self-identified light-skinned, fat Mexican with an insatiable appetite for hot wings, tacos, sopes, and poetry. Through a diary entry narrative, the novel follows Gabi Hernandez through her senior year in high school. MY TWO CENTS: Isabel Quintero’s 378 page debut YA novel, Gabi: A Girl in Pieces, is witty, exciting, and heart-felt. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity. Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. But, of course, I can’t tell my mom that because she will think I’m bad. I mean, this is America and the 21st century not Mexico one hundred years ago. ![]() I don’t necessarily agree with that whole wait until you’re married crap, though. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin.
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