Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez

Manny is trying to find a place in the world. He wants a way out of the life he has now; the one where he has to dodge his abusive father and stop him from killing someone, his brother who can't keep a job, his sister who sneaks out of the house to see boys against the household rules, and his mother who compulsively cleans everything as if it makes anything better.

This book just utterly failed to grab me. The characters were flat and hard to care about, for all their troubles. The writing was dull and it was hard to keep reading. The pacing was wobbly. Although this book is only 216 pages long, it felt like it took forever to read.

2 Stars
 
Emme