When this coming-of-age novel was first published in Rivera's native Dominican Republic, it shocked readers with its frank look at the sometimes tawdry life of a young Dominican woman. Caught between the onslaught of US consumer culture and the evolving Marxist theology that spread through the Caribbean after the Cuban Revolution, the story reflects the loss of any sense of identity as the girl and her best friend move toward adulthood. They look for role models in musicians and writers, but as loss piles on loss -- loss of cultural identity, loss of lovers, loss of a child, loss of dreams -- they move every closer to knowing that "the worst solitude is that which is shared.

Translated by: Mary Berg