The Taste of Sugar: A Novel

Taste of Sugar is a family drama set in Puerto Rico in the late part of 19th and early part of 20th century, when it was transitioning from being a Spanish Colony to being an American colony or sometimes described as a US Possession. Marisel tells a wonderful story that is full of love, lust, grief, commitment and responsibility. She has the uncanny knack of transporting the reader to the scene where her story is taking place and painting a vivid picture of events using both English and Spanish language in a simple but beautiful way. This is story of Valentina who comes from a professional family and has girlish dreams of living a “high-society” life in Paris. At a socialite party, she meets Vincente, a handsome young coffee farmer with whom she madly falls in love and her love is reciprocated. The act of falling in “love and lust” is palpably described. Valentina leaves her middle class life to join Vincente at his farm, a life for which is totally unprepared. There she discovers her own resilience and learns from Vincente’s mother and other “women” of the house. Vincente’s father Raul, who is a known womanizer, lusts after Valentina (his daughter in law) and the writer hints at a possibility of sexual encounter between these two characters. The book has many “letters” between Valentina and her sister Elena, who in contrast to Valentina chooses to marry someone for stability rather than love and stays with her parents taking care of them. These letters are very descriptive in depicting the love between the two sisters, without either of them judging the other of their respective chosen lives.Vincente and Valentina struggle and work hard to build a simple but loving home which is destroyed by a hurricane. Vincente is forced to leave Puerto Rico to go to Hawaii to work in sugar cane fields. The writer has an amazing ability to tell the tragedy of death and burial of small children and bring this reader to tears. Marisel just doesn’t stop here, but continues to weave a tale of brotherly love between Vincente and his half-brother Raulito who is the product of Don Raul’s indulgences with women and happens to be “negro and gay”. The book follows the journey of the family to Hawaii and their continued struggle to make a new life. However, the ending of the book is rather abrupt leaving this reader to hope and wish for a sequel.I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend this book as a “must read” for everyone who claims to be an avid book-reader.

I love the historical aspects of the novel. The author painted a vivid picture of what it was like to live in 19th century Puerto Rico. However, the character development was all over the place for my taste. There were too many characters and bloodlines to follow which kind of annoyed me and made it challenging to dive into the world the author was trying to convey the way I wanted to. I give it 4 stars though because it was still a compelling story.

"That's what they want-Governor Allen and all the Americans- they want Puerto Ricans to leave Puerto Rico so that they can have the island for themselves. It's all there in the newspaper. All the reasons why the Americans want us to leave. All the reasons we shouldn't."I am still reeling from the emotions I am still feeling as I write this. I have been searching for a book that feels like the heartbeat of Puerto Rico and that embodies the spirit of what it means to be Puerto Rican. The Taste of Sugar is it. It is raw, honest, emotional, and most of all necessary and required reading. This one completely rocked me to my core and made me sit with the truth of what it means to be unapologetically Puerto Rican. I found every single part of my identity within these pages. I cried and cried until I couldn't anymore but I'm left with this renewed spirit of ovetwhelming pride and hope for my people.Vera holds nothing back and she speaks truth to power. She bares the soul of Puerto Rico naked on the pages for all to see. She leaves no room or doubt as to who is to blame for the exploitation and destruction of my beautiful island. Although this story is full of immense pain there are moments of joy bursting at the seams that remind me where I come from, who came before me, what they did for me and why we are still here. It reminds me of what is at the core of who we are and we have continued to survive: love, family and community. Our history is not lost and it is still relevant today because the oppression and abuse continue. Vera gives us the good, the bad and the ugly but reminds us that better is always on the horizon as long as we hold on to each other and let the spirit of our ancestors guide us. 'Trabajo y tristeza', colonialism, racism, colorism, patriarchy, violence against women, homophobia, infant mortality, and poverty are just chapters but the story of Puerto Rico is still a work in progress. Being Puerto Rican means "siguiendo la lucha pa'lante" carrying your homeland in your heart wherever you lay your head.A coffee with sugar and a piece of bread will never taste the same. "El Cafe es brujo" while at the same time sustaining generations and whenever the taste of sugar touches my lips it will always taste bitter because it cost my people everything. Thanks to @writingbee2 for writing our story and letting the world know that we will still stand. Soy boricua hasta la muerte. In the words of Lolita Lebron: "There is no victory without pain."

An interesting time period in Puerto Rican history. I enjoyed learning a bit about coffee farms and life on farms successful and not so successful. There was also a very nice true love romance story. Interesting family stories and wonderful friendships.(I am trying to avoid spoilers in this review.)Later in the book there are multiple disasters that change lives. A glimmer of hope is surfacing for the family and the book abruptly ends. We don't learn what happens to anyone in their new homes or the homes they left. It is just done. Why would a publisher print it? Very disappointing.

Never imagined that at 67 and living in Brazil would I read a story that so accurately invoked the stories I’d heard as a child from my grandparents and parents who lived that experience from Ciales y Lares to Hawaii. Encantado estoy.