BOOK REVIEWS


Santiago's increasing need to explore new grounds. She develops a strong
sense of confidence in herself influenced by her studies at Harvard University
which enhance the emergence of an assertive feminist consciousness and
her eagerness to lead an independent life.
 This newfound confidence strengthens the critical perspective from which
Santiago questions important issues that affect her life. She ponders and
questions the meaning and significance of immigration, gender roles, Puer-
to Rico's ambivalent political status, and the alliances formed between island
and diasporic Puerto Ricans that perpetuate and sustain Puerto Rican
customs and traditions on the mainland. Above all, Santiago realizes the
significance of turning her back on her family and the absence of a communal
sense of identity that has characterized her life with Dogan.
 Despite the plot's slow development and the constant repetition of phrases
throughout the work, The Turkish Lover is a bold depiction of Santiago's
maturation process. Chiquita and Negi are left behind as Santiago comes to
terms with the liberating powers inherent in her own emancipation, in her
capacity for academic achievement, and in her desire to discover new
territories as a diasporic Puerto Rican woman constantly on the verge of a
defiant future. It ends with ample room for yet another book of memoirs on
the near horizon.

 Carmen Haydee Rivera
 University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras




Miriam De Costa-Willis (ed.). Daughters of the Diaspora: Afra-Hispanic
Writers. Kingston and Miami: lan Randle Publishers, 2003.

On those occasions when special books come one's way, reactions can be
quite surprising. In the case of Daughters of the Diaspora, this reviewer wants
to cradle it and keep expressing gratitude to Ian Randle Publishers for making
such hard-to-come-by creative writing available to readers in English. The
bright colors of Shan Kelly-Cecilio's "Sweet Papayas" on both covers
foreshadow a collection that surpasses all expectations. It provides a variety
of approaches to the work of twenty Spanish-speaking authors from the
Americas and Africa: pictures, biographies, personal correspondence or
narratives, poems, excerpts from novels, formal interviews or conversations
with the authors, and, in the majority of cases, at least one article by a well-
known scholar in the field. These writers share a sense of commitment to
issues made more forceful by Miriam De Costa-Willis in the dedication: "The
daughters of that diaspora carry on the creative and intellectual tradition of
our foremother a healer, conjurer, and wise woman" (v).