When I Was Puerto Rican
by Esmeralda Santiago
★ Top 25 book of 1994 · #17 on Best Books of 1994
Esmeralda Santiago recalls her childhood in rural Puerto Rico, filled with tenderness, poverty and family strife. When her mother moves the children to New York, she adapts to a new language and identity, eventually reaching Harvard.
Best for: Readers interested in immigrant coming-of-age memoirs and Puerto Rican culture
When I Was Puerto Rican is #17 on BookWard's Best Books of 1994, out of 42 1994 books that cleared our data bar.
What When I Was Puerto Rican is about
Esmeralda Santiago begins her memoir in Macún, a rural corner of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, where she is the eldest child of parents whose relationship is under strain. When her brother Raymond is badly hurt in a bicycle accident, her mother moves the family to New York in search of better medical care. There Santiago meets racism, a new language, and the embarrassment of translating for her mother at the welfare center, while her mother, working in a factory, insists the children study.
The tone is warm, candid, and reflective, and the book is as much about identity and belonging as about migration. It will speak to readers interested in immigrant experience, family life under financial pressure, or growing up between two cultures.
When I Was Puerto Rican on the Best Books of 1994
When I Was Puerto Rican came out in 1994. Of the 42 books first published in 1994 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #17 on our Best Books of 1994 list.
Why it made the list: 296 readers have shelved it on Open Library. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1994 list
- Six Easy Pieces Richard Phillips Feynman, #15
- Walk Two Moons Sharon Creech, #16
- Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson, #18
- It's Perfectly Normal Robie H. Harris, #19
See all Best Books of 1994 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1993 Best Books of 1995.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 271 want to read it, 13 are reading it now and 12 have read it, according to Open Library.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 64 | 55% |
| Reader love | 19 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 50 | 20% |
Questions about When I Was Puerto Rican
When was When I Was Puerto Rican published?
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago was first published in 1994.
Was When I Was Puerto Rican one of the best books of 1994?
When I Was Puerto Rican is #17 on BookWard's Best Books of 1994, out of 42 1994 books that cleared our data bar. 296 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
Why is When I Was Puerto Rican on the Best Books of 1994 list?
296 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
More of the best books of 1994
- Guess How Much I Love You Sam McBratney, #1
- Artificial Intelligence Stuart J. Russell, #2
- The Six Pillars of Self-esteem Nathaniel Branden, #3
- Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela, #4
- Mercury and Me Jim Hutton, #5
- Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus John Gray, #6
See the full Best Books of 1994, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
Find your own best books
Add what you have read, rate it, and BookWard will recommend what to read next.
Free while in beta. No credit card needed.