YOU SOUND LIKE A WHITE GIRL The Case for Rejecting Assimilation

Author and narrator Julissa Arce delivers a powerful commentary on what she sees as the illusion that immigrants can become “real Americans” by assimilating. Arce weaves her personal experience as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who built a successful career on Wall Street with Latinx history and analyses of recent political issues. Her tone is firm and unapologetic in her criticisms and celebratory of her accent’s connection with her origins. Ultimately, this audiobook demonstrates that no amount of assimilating can ensure acceptance by white Americans and that owning one’s culture doesn’t strip one’s identity as an American. A bonus conversation between Arce and journalist Paola Ramos discusses the writing process and goes into more detail about the specific personal experiences that inform the topics in Arce’s audiobook. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2022]