I’m not really a fan of novels that are a series of vignettes, but this one works for me. The stories all revolve around Yolanda García, whose name is often shortened to Yo, which is the pronoun “I” in Spanish, hence the title. We learn at the beginning that Yo has just published a piece of fiction in which her various family members recognize themselves as characters, and they are not too happy about it. What follows are basically episodes involving people in Yo’s life, including her three husbands, a landlady whose husband beats her, an English professor who is endlessly writing letters of recommendation for her (“once in a career there comes a student”), a boyfriend posing as a journalist to keep their relationship under wraps, and an assortment of family members. I found all of these stories captivating, but the most memorable and shocking one is near the end, with the too-benign title of “The Stalker.” Another surprise is the final story, in which Yo’s father recounts how Yo’s penchant for storytelling as a child placed her entire family in jeopardy. Yolanda herself is a bit of enigma, kind and caring, but at times regretful, as we all are.
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