Return to Sender

Week 6 Novel
Return to Sender
Written By: Julia Alvarez
Published: 2010

Well... I really don't have much to say about Return to Sender except for I tried. Boy, did I try with this book. I tried and failed four times to get past the first fifty pages and finally, I did it on the fifth try. I'm going to be completely blunt. Attempting to read this book was like gnawing on lumber. Incredibly unpleasant and not at all enjoyable. As a big writer myself, I really struggle with certain styles because they use some of my biggest writing pet peeves. Return to Sender really pushed a lot of buttons, which resulted in me not enjoying this book in the slightest. 

It has a great story that focuses on an issue that is quite prevalent in many areas across the country. It also focused on an American demographic that is not commonly discussed in realistic fiction, which is the farming demographic. It also addresses a topic that is considered a bit taboo, which is illegal immigrants living in America. Media has made them out to be criminals who are exploiting the resources that America has to offer, but Return to Sender makes them more human by creating a family that many people can relate to. 

The writing style is what killed me. There was little to no variation in sentence structure and it felt like I was reading a science textbook. There was an extreme lack of music of language. It was predominantly written in subject-verb simple sentences. This is not how I would want my students to be writing, and writers often draw inspiration and advice from the books they read. The characters were all a bit one dimensional. Tyler was made out to be this excellent friend, when in reality, he was not all that nice to Marí. I could go on and on,  but for the sake of all of our sanity, I won't. I do not intend on using this book in my classroom and it will not be present in my classroom library.