Efran Barradas

The New York Times Book Review describes HAPPY DAYS, UNCLE SERGIO as "a fine, frequently magical novel of growth and self-discovery." Booklist says, "This outstanding book captures the fleeting magic of childhood and the confusion of adulthood with grace, style, and touching honesty.

Synopsis:
A novel of love and loss set against the rapidly-changing backdrop of 1950s Puerto RicoJuan Martnez Cap called it a "novel that is a joyful chronicle of Puerto Rican solidarity,"and Efran Barradas stated that its "combination of traditional mythical structure and contemporary realism gives Garca Ramis'novel a very special appeal, a present-day ambiguity."

MUST READ FOR ANYONE OF PUERTO RICAN HERITAGE (TODOS!!!) OR THOSE INTERESTED IN THE INDIVIDUAL AND CULTURAL EFFECTS OF IMPERIALISM AND DOMINATION AND, OF COURSE, TO UNDERSTAND LATIN AMERICA BETTER IN GENERAL.
The vocabulary is accessible to an intermediate-advanced student. (It's a novel; you don't need to understand EVERY word. The first 20 pages may be slightly difficult in vocab, but keep reading.)

This Bildungroman (novel of how a person is formed) upon publication was the most popular contemporary novel in Puerto Rico -not without reason. The main protagonist, Lidia, grows up in PR in a family that identifies and reaffirms their Spanish heritage, while recognizing their Latin and Puerto Rican roots only occasionally through food and at Christmas, music. All the members of Lidia's family idealize foreign cultures: England, Italy, Spain (the old ruler/colonizer), Germany and the US (the new ruler/colonizer).

The principle theme of this book is about affirm of identity in a dominated culture, but other central themes are racism, sexism, heterosexism (to a small'ito' degree), imperialism, religion, politics and how they