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Dominicana is the third novel from Angie Cruz, a fictional retelling of Cruz’s mother’s journey from child bride to immigrant mother. The novel centers on the perspective of a fifteen year old girl, Ana Canción, who is living in the Dominican countryside with her family when we first meet her. She is 11 when Juan Ruiz proposes to her, and even though he is more than double her age, Ana’s parents are elated at the prospect, as Juan and his brothers promise to take Ana to America, which represents a ticket to freedom for her entire family. Ana is repulsed by Juan, who is a sloppy drunk, and does not subscribe to the fantasy of American life the way that her family does. Ana’s mother takes over the wedding preparations, advising Ana to save some money for herself to send back to her family, to learn English and make herself valuable, and to keep her husband happy, so that one day, Ana’s family may join her in the States, escaping the war-torn Dominican countryside. When Ana is just 15, she marries Juan, and he takes her to the Bronx to live in his apartment with his brother César.
Ana is raped on her honeymoon night, plied with alcohol so that she will succumb more easily to her husband’s advances, which is an appropriate first evening for a relationship that will become fraught with domestic violence incidents and more rape. In New York, Ana finds Juan’s apartment in gruesome shape, it is dingy and sparse, and quickly all of the joy and color bleeds out from Ana’s life. She is trapped in the apartment all day by the overprotective Juan, cooking and cleaning in a colorless and cramped space, while her husband hustles for work, making money that he refuses to spend on luxuries for his home or wife.
It quickly becomes clear that Ana and Juan’s relationship is transactional, every day Ana picks up the phone to hear breathing on the other end from Juan’s mistress, the woman he truly loves. Ana is merely an object of convenience for Juan, she cooks and cleans, and helps him with some business at home, which is how she manages to skim a few dollars to save for herself. Ana dodges her mother’s requests to send money, as she is ashamed that her husband is too cheap to share any with her, and she fears retaliation from him if she were to ask. Juan chokes, slaps, and berates Ana for even the smallest infractions, and isolates her from any possible confidantes. Ana is increasingly lonely in her confinement, and every day wishes to be reunited with her parents and siblings in her homeland. This is unfortunately an all too familiar tale for abuse victims, especially immigrant abuse victims, that their partner isolates them to ensure they are entirely reliant on their abuser, creating an imbalanced power dynamic.
The story is set in the 1960’s, which is crucial to the narrative, as Cruz employs fraught historical and political moments both in the U.S. and in the Dominican Republic as an added layer of chaos that Ana’s life. Ana’s apartment overlooks the Audobon Ballroon, where Malcolm X was killed in 1965. Ana hears the shooting, but knows nothing about the man who was shot. As Cruz explains in an interview with Electric Lit, “Ana doesn’t yet know that as a member of the African diaspora—being that Dominican and African American ancestors both took the same trip across the middle passage—that Malcolm X’s platform, the civil rights act, the struggle for black liberation would eventually make it possible for her and her family to have access to education, employment, housing, etc.” (Source). Ana is not able to make the connection between her own story and Malcolm X’s, but she does connect with the woman who she sees placing flowers at his memorial every day, whom she guesses to be his widow. She identifies with this woman’s continued act of silent devotion, sees herself in this woman who is grieving for loved ones lost. Ana’s silent resistance to her husband’s abuse, and her silent devotion to bettering the lives of her family members is mirrored by the struggles of the oppressed in the U.S. and the D.R. to free themselves from authoritarianism.
When the political turmoil in the Dominican Republic comes to a boiling point, Juan returns home to protect his family’s property. Ana, living alone in the apartment with Juan’s free spirited younger brother, César, finally gets a taste of freedom. She begins taking free English classes at a local parish, selling her food to factory workers for extra cash, taking day trips with César, and dancing at the ballroom. This period in her life feels like an exhale, as she is no longer under the physical and psychological tyranny of her husband, and she becomes free to create space for herself. Ana’s freedom is of course short-lived, as Juan’s return forces her to make some really tough decisions about the survival of herself and her family. This novel is about transactional womanhood and identity, and touches upon the challenges that immigrant women face in hopes of creating a brighter future for their families. Ana is a vessel for her family’s hopes and dreams, and her persistence and strength in the face of oppression and discrimination are characteristic of the struggles that have faced women for decades. Ana’s is faced with challenges far beyond the measure of her years, she retells her story with a liveliness and wonder that will endear any reader to her. This is a timeless tale of female resistance, an effort to elevate the voices of the long-silenced immigrant women who continue to be forced to make sacrifices for their families. Ana is an unforgettable and utterly luminous heroine, and this novel is a gorgeous tribute to Cruz’s real life mother and all the mothers who hold the key to the future.