The Things We Didn’t Know

by Elba Iris Pérez

The inaugural winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest, Elba Iris Pérez’s lyrical, cross-cultural coming-of-age debut novel explores a young girl’s childhood between 1950s Puerto Rico and a small Massachusetts factory town.

Andrea Rodríguez is nine years old when her mother whisks her and her brother, Pablo, away from Woronoco, the tiny Massachusetts factory town that is the only home they’ve known. With no plan and no money, she leaves them with family in the mountainside villages of Puerto Rico and promises to return.

Months later, when Andrea and Pablo are brought back to Massachusetts, they find their hometown significantly changed. As they navigate the rifts between their family’s values and all-American culture and face the harsh realities of growing up, they must embrace both the triumphs and heartache that mark the journey to adulthood.

A heartfelt, evocative portrait of another side of life in 1950s America, The Things We Didn’t Know establishes Elba Iris Pérez as a sensational new literary voice.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Coming Of Age, Historical, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 6, 2024

About the author

I grew up in Woronoco, Massachusetts and Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. I'm a theatre director, historian and author who earned a PhD in history of Puerto Rico from the University of Puerto Rico. I have two wonderful adult children and live in Texas with my husband. My favorite thing to do is to create memories with my family.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! It is a simple coming of age story but it is told with so much heart!!

[Shelby (allthebooksalltheways) · Rating 5 out of 5]

**I initially rated this 4.5 stars, but after sitting with my thoughts for a few days, I realized I couldn't stop thinking about it, and it's worthy of 5 stars! 😍

𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗬: #OwnVoices historical fiction & coming-of-age / Books Like Us contest winner

Thank you #partners @gallerybooks @simonandschuster @simon.audio @librofm @bookclubfavorites for my #gifted copies

The Things We Didn't Know
Elba Iris Pérez

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

📖 An intimate portrayal of a young Puerto Rican girl's upbringing in a small 50s-60s Massachusetts factory town. With a mother struggling to assimilate, an overbearing father, and a little brother who falls in with the wrong crowd, Andrea is caught between cultures, grappling with her role in her family and in the world.

💭 I loved this book! The Things We Didn't Know is a multilayered, beautifully written coming-of-age novel that explores a side of the 50s and 60s we don't often see: the life of immigrant children and their families. Andrea is immediately loveable, the reader can't help but become invested in her story and its outcome. Pérez's writing is gorgeous, poignant, and lyrical, eliciting such a range of emotions. She has an immense gift for storytelling and bringing the reader directly into the scenes. This is an author to watch! I'll eagerly await her next release. 💛

I read by alternating between my print copy and the audiobook, and while both were wonderful and I'd recommend either wholeheartedly, the audiobook performance, by narrator Marisa Blake, is hands down one of the best I've ever heard. She took these characters and brought them to life! Just outstanding!

📌 Pérez is the Simon and Schuster 2023 Books Like Us winner 🏆

📌 Out now!

• • • • • •

[Deanna (she_reads_truth_365) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debut novel by local Houstonian author Elba Iris Perez was fantastic! This is a powerful coming of age story that will tug on your heart strings. I was immersed in this relatable story from the beginning until the end. I felt connected to the characters and the authenticity of their journey. I loved this emotional and thought provoking novel that explored family drama, historical fiction, identities, cultural differences and gender stereotypes. I look forward to reading more stories by this author!

I received an advanced physical copy from @thoughtsfromapage Lit Lover Patreon Community traveling galley program. Thank you to Cindy Burnett and publisher Gallery Books. I appreciated the opportunity to preview this book.

[Taury · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Things We Didn’t Know by Elba Irez Pérez is a novel about the difficulties of cultures integrating into American society in the late 50s and early 60s. Taking place in a small Massachusetts’s factory town strong in tradition and history. It involves two children Andrea and Pablo and the difficulties of acceptance of moving to the United States from Puerto Rico as a child. To what extent will one go to to fit in? This involves family interfering and the difference in girls and girls in a Puerto Rican culture, such as cultural identity, generational conflict, and the search for belonging. The novel is a multi-generational story that delves into the hidden truths and unspoken secrets that bind and separate family members.

[Desiree Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE GOOD:

Our leading lady is a vibrant, youthful character, if a bit lacking in confidence. Her loud, noisy, opinionated family radiates their love for her, both in positive and negative ways.

The slice of life in Puerto Rico is interesting.

Love the use of Spanish here and there throughout. It was just the perfect amount to add flavor and atmosphere without bogging things down in unfamiliar verbiage or lengthy explanations.

THE BAD:

The author (or her publisher’s advice) just couldn’t help themselves and had to bang on several times about modern-day societies’ twin hot topics du jour: Racism (you guessed it!) and Transgenderism (eye roll). With a bit of feminism (“I want more”) thrown in.

Our leading lady and her brother stay temporarily with an aunt who dresses like a man, wears aftershave, and (somehow) grows a beard. (There’s no mention of hermaphroditism, which would cause that.) The aunt features throughout and (because of course) eventually a girlfriend of hers shows up.

In addition to the above, and don’t forget racism, there is also quite a bit of anti-Vietnam War mumbo jumbo, and anti-Americanism.


CONCLUSION:

Reads a bit like a memoir in a “list” kind of a way: ‘First we did this, then we did that”.

Lacking in poignancy and emotional pull, while events in the tale should have easily drawn in those aspects.

If The Bad section above is your jam, then go for it! If not, there are plenty of other books in the sea. 😉

[Nora Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh My Gaga!!!! I was so happy to have won the giveaway when it happened. I just finished this book and OH MY GAGA!!!! It was so good!!! I’m Puerto Rican & Cuban and I could relate to a lot of what Andrea had to deal with in the book. I will totes be recommending this book to others when it comes out in February!!!

[enchantingprose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. I think the first 100 pages I did. I can forgive the weak character building and no plot. But then the story just gets worse and worse. This book is melodramatic at odd times and the times where more prose was needed it just glossed over.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving coming of age debut featuring a Puerto Rican teen girl and her brother as they navigate life in suburban American during the 1950s and 60s. This book tackles racism, the Vietnam war, parental abandonment and mental health and was great on audio. I look forward to reading more by this author!

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads and am pleased to be able to post a positive review. This story takes you on a journey in a way that you feel as if you are right there watching it happen.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so wanted to like this book, but the writing felt clumsy and I just didn't feel the narrative drive to make me want to spend more time on it. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to preview it. It just fell flat for me and I can't quite explain why. #NetGalley

[Yahaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly stuffed coming of age novel
I'm not sure I know what we didn't know

[Melodi | booksandchicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to @simon.audio for the complimentary audiobook.

3.5

We follow two children and their lives in the 1950's that began in Massachusetts until their mom ran away with them, home to her Puerto Rico. Life was different for the children there until they were once again abruptly moved again, back to the U.S. They continued to be raised by their father who was attempting to balance raising his two children and provide for them.

This book had a good sense of time and place with events of the time and location of the 50's. I felt compassion for these children as they were finding their way in life with a somewhat parented life.

The audiobook was well done by Marisa Blake, it was easy to follow and kept my attention.

[Louis Muñoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

WEPA!!! 4.25 or 4.5 stars, which I'm happily rounding up. So, full disclosure, I'm Puerto Rican, so I was already going to be strongly biased in favor of this story, but... that doesn't always work out, as I DIDN'T love books but had hoped to, such as "Familia" and other recent books. This one, I did, though. I was hooked immediately, as both the main character and all her family and friends were people I knew, recognized, and cared about in one way or another. A phenomenal debut effort, albeit a bit rushed towards the end, and I strongly recommend this book for its heart, humor, and humanity.

I read this book both via its audiobook version and a physical ARC I received from the publisher, mostly the former. I loved the narration; it was sometimes difficult to differentiate the characters's voices, but the narrator injected so much extra warmth to elevate an already great story. Many thanks to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster for the digital and physical ARCs in exchange for my honest review of the book, and many thanks to the publisher for choosing this book as Simon & Schuster's "Books Like Us" contest. It really brought Puerto Rico and its people alive for me, and the author masterfully shared both what is unique AND universal about the Puerto Rican (im)migrant experience. This book truly filled my soul. Gracias desde el fondo de mi alma.

[Amanda Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. It was based in my hometown, so that was fun hearing of all the towns I grew up visiting.

[Stacy40pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Things We Didn’t Know by Elba Iris Pérez. Thanks to @gallerybooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Andrea is nine years old when her mother sneaks her and her little brother away from Woronoco, a small Massachusetts factory town, to her home of Puerto Rico. She leaves them with unknown relatives with no money and no plan. Months later they return to Massachusetts to find it changed.

This was a great coming of age story that hooked me immediately. It really felt like a true story or memoir, it was so vivid and realistic. The struggles Andrea went through, especially not quite fitting into either her American or Puerto Rican culture was felt in the heart. I felt the ending was a little rushed but I was willing to forgive that as the entire story was incredible and very enjoyable and educational experience for me.

“That’s the thing about Woronoco. It’s its own little world.”

The Things We Didn’t Know comes out 2/6.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful debut novel. It felt very much like a memoir. I enjoyed it!

[Alena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My initial reaction is that I should have liked this novel more than I did. It has all the right elements - smart female protagonist, coming of age, immigrant story, family drama with generational conflict. It is all there and it a solid debut, but it never quite clicked into place for me. The transitions, especially those that deal with jumps in time, felt abrupt and there were so many ancillary character who I thought deserved more exploration. As interesting as Andrea was, she never developed into a character who stole my heart and attention.
So, ultimately, good not great.

[Tomes And Textiles]

This was a fictional story that read like a memoir and loved the blurred lines of fiction/reality. Full review to come.

[Em T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 (round-up) I really enjoyed the prose and movement of the book. But it feels like there's an element that's lacking in the book. I wanted more redemption.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those novels that is sweet but evokes so much pathos that it's often hard to read! Siblings Andrea and Pablo are born in Puerto Rico but eventually move with parents, Raquel and Don Luis. And then everything changes in an instant! Told from young Andrea's perspective, the book reveals her friendships, her strengths and weaknesses, and her disappointment when her mother leaves and her brother becomes secretive and begins lying to their dad. Perez addresses many themes: racism, sexual identity, mental illness, and more. It's lovely and both heartbreaking and heartwarming!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Madison Preuss · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars actually. I really enjoyed this book and how she wrote about basically a whole life and it didn’t seem to drag on exponentially anywhere which I feel many books do. Let’s go to woronoco!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Rounded up ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This is an incredibly well done coming of age story and debut novel! Nine year old Andrea Rodriguez moves from Puerto Rico to a small Massachusetts town in the 50s. Andrea must navigate life in America with an overbearing father. Having an Italian father, I can 100% relate to her father‘s behavior. My father was the same way, except he never would’ve attended the wedding . The story is very realistic. I see how this won the Books Like Us contest. A Well done audio narration too.

#bestestbookclubever

https://www.instagram.com/bestestbook...

[Jasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

i picked this up randomly because i wanted to get a goodreads achievement (lol) and i'm so happy i did!

this was so sweet, genuine, and had so much character. i loved the descriptions of puerto rico & seeing the protag grow up. it touches on a lot of sensitive subjects with tenderness and generosity - tolerance and love, accepting your family's flaws and still showing empathy, and standing up for what you believe in. i'd love to read more work from this author.

[Kris Frantz-Shoaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars because I couldn’t think of a reason to only give four.

[Bekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You can love someone without taking responsibility for all the things they’ve done.”

While reading, I was just like yeah I get it, it’s a coming of age. I felt like I was just waiting for the big plot bomb to drop. Then I got to around 80% and it clicked for me that yes it’s a coming of age, but it’s also highlighting how abandonment vs controlling parents impact someone as they grow up, which is why we spend so long with Andrea as a youth and less and less as she grows up. She’s working to move on from this area of her life.

“The Things We Didn’t Know” tackles many issues regarding immigrant families and generational differences. How immigration and wanting to blend in can put weight on families and their culture, pushing them to turn against other minorities. Difficulties of cutting family members off, when it can be obvious and “easy” to do so and when it can be crushing and difficult. How someone you care about and who has cared for you for so long can still be damaging you and putting you in a toxic environment. Blurring the lines between given vs chosen family and wondering if blood is thicker than water.

[Hannah North · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful coming-of-age story – and a debut novel from this author! The Things We Didn’t Know is a semi-autobiographical story about Andrea, a young girl who immigrated to small-town Massachusetts from Puerto Rico in the 1950s.

I was right alongside the main character throughout the entire story, and Perez writes so vividly that it felt like an actual memoir! This book did such a great job of illustrating internal conflict from a child’s perspective. As an older sibling, I found myself relating to Andrea so much as she tried to balance caretaking for those around her and carrying the burdens of others with her own joy and contentment. I also liked how tactfully it highlighted historical events and the political climate from Andrea’s perspective without getting bogged down or too heavy. The commentary on gender stereotypes, cultural differences, identity, etc., through solely Andrea’s told experiences, was so subtle and well-crafted -- it was both heartbreaking and heartwarming! 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

[Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A "dear Diary"-type of book, basically a little memoir from a private person masquerading as a novel. Clunky prose, flat characters, barely any character development. It showed some promise at the beginning, but soon petered out. Two stars for the Puerto Rico chapters.

[Nae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!! Loved this way more than I thought I would! RTC

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC received courtesy of Goodreads.com First Reads Giveaways

Puerto Rico is unique in America in that it is a territory, not a state, with its own culture, separate from the United States. I don't know very much about how Puerto Rico came to be a territory and, truthfully, hadn't really thought about it before this book.

Andrea and her brother Pablo are growing up in a company town in Massachusetts in the 1950's. Their father works at the paper factory and their mother, Raquel, is very unhappily at home with them. Their mother hates everything about the town because it's isolated from larger towns and she is stranded with no way to even go to the store. She takes the children and goes back to Puerto Rico without her husband's knowledge or permission. It's in Puerto Rico that the children discover their "American-ness". Raquel takes them to Puerto Rico and leaves them with her sister. The children know nothing of their family or its culture in Puerto Rico.

Eventually, Luis finds them in Puerto Rico and brings them back to Massachusetts. Luis wants to raise his children to follow the Puerto Rican culture that he was brought up with; but the children are more American than Puerto Rican. This becomes the conflict in the novel. How do these children grow into "normal" American kids while being raised as if they were in Puerto Rico? They face discrimination because they're Puerto Rican and their father practices his own kind of racism. While technically, Puerto Rican and American should mean the same thing we witness Andrea and Pablo fight many battles with their father and make heart-wrenching decisions to live their own lives.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like the opening chapters were for an entirely different story. It grabs you; the tone is urgent, different from the rest. The parents are almost unrecognizable here from the versions that appear later on. I hoped we would get a callback to the car on the cliff scene, a connection made between the mother’s outlandish behaviour and the brother’s mental illness… It was right there! But to blame it on the incident with the neighbour and whatnot made no sense. I don’t know what happened between writing that bit at the beginning and the rest. Or, maybe, it was the other way around, and it was added afterwards*, something to trick the reader.

⇝ 2.5 stars rounded up for Titi Machi and the vivid portrayal of these characters navigating the two cultures, Puerto Rican and American. And because it’s a debut!

* I watched an interview with the author, who is a historian, and it confirmed that the novel started as a research project, then felt the need to fill the gaps with fiction because the people who lived in Woronoco in the ‘50s and ‘60s were no longer alive to tell their story.