Excerpts of Gringa Reviews:
"The book is filled with detailed conversations and particulars of dress, mannerisms and facial expressions that give it the feeling of a novel. A quirky narrative of artfully reconstructed memories."--Kirkus Reviews
"LGBT families and immigrant kids will want it for the honesty, humor, and love. Every lively chapter ends with a detailed recipe that mixes food and feelings." --Booklist
"Told with a keen, retrospective self-awareness and a dash of humor, it is an engrossing coming-of-age story by one of the first generation of queerspawn to identify as such. It is written for adults, but should appeal to older teens as well."
"Hart's memoir offers a delicious combination of recipes and crisply written prose, balancing the painful realities of court-enforced custody with an unwavering belief in the strength and resilience of self and family."--Hip Mama
"What lifts this memoir above the rest is the level of observation, most of it centering around food. Hart has a grip for what the anthropologists call 'thick description' and what the rest of us call 'good writing.'"-Sacramento News & Review
"If you're up for a warm, funny, loving memoir that's relatively quick and definitely easy to enjoy, pick up this one. 'Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood' is one I know you'll like."--Pahrump Valley Times
"Hart . . . . has crafted a well-balanced tale that forgoes blame in favor of poignancy."--The Oregonian
"Gringa is a breezy, agreeable read, written in clear, detailed prose."--
"A gently engrossing tale that carefully unwraps the multitude of contradictions in which [the author] finds herself."--Windy City Times
A "modern coming-of-age story told with eloquence and wit."--Examiner.com
"In this memoir there exists a strong confident female voice. This would be an especially fantastic gift to give a college aged girl to read as she navigates through her newly found freedom and realizes she has many choices in life."--Brandon Gazette
"Hart's memoir is important in that it adds to our understanding of the impact of anti-gay prejudice and the bitter price children of lesbian and gay parents have been forced to pay; this is evoked with great emotional resonance in the book."--Feminist Review
"Gringa is a tender and smart memoir that brings vivid context to the
coming-of-age journey after a parent comes out of the closet."--Abigail
Garner, author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It
Like It Is
"This is a compelling story, lyrically
written, from the new America."--Sue William Silverman, Fearless
Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir
"A wonderful story from a brave and
endearing soul!"--Rachel Epstein, editor of Who's Your Daddy?
And Other Writings on Queer Parenting
Listen to Melissa on the radio:
Melissa Hart on KLCC's Northwest Passage.
High-Resolution JPEG of Gringa Cover
High-Resolution JPEG of Melissa Hart,
Photo by Jonathan B. Smith
