Title: The Things We Didn’t Know
Author: Elba Iris Pérez
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Format Read: Audiobook from Libby
Audiobook Narration: Marisa Blake
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
I’ve been trying so hard to train myself to listen to audiobooks. The Things We Didn’t Know by Elba Iris Pérez simply happened to be the first book on my to-read list that was available in that format. It initially grabbed my interest because it was written by a Hispanic woman. I’m not Hispanic myself, but I have a strong interest in most aspects of Hispanic culture for various reasons.
Andrea Rodríguez and her brother Pablo are growing up in small-town Massachusetts with their father and restless mother. When Andrea is just nine years old, their mother abruptly whisks them back to their homeland of Puerto Rico, then almost immediately abandons them in the care of her sister so she can “look for employment.” They are left there all summer and have just begun school when she returns and whisks them off again to another aunt’s place, only for the pattern to repeat itself. They contact their dad, who comes for them, and they return to Massachusetts, where things have changed drastically in the short time they were gone. The rest of the story follows them as they grow up. The story is narrated in Andrea’s first-person voice.
One of Pérez’s real strengths is the complexity of her characters. None of the numerous characters is perfect, but they all have good in them. I loved how she highlighted the family’s closeness because that, too, is the kind of structure I married into back when. Obviously, I know not all families are like that, but this one is. I felt as if I had truly come to know real people through Andrea’s story. The ferocity of their father’s love nearly brought me to tears, even if he was extremely old-fashioned. Although the pace was a little slower than I tend to prefer, I remained invested because Pérez made this family feel so real.
The Things We Didn’t Know is a quietly powerful story about family, immigration, class, childhood, and the things children understand long before they have the words for them. Pérez writes with warmth and clarity, using small, specific details to make life in the Beehive feel vivid and real. Her prose has a reflective, almost memoir-like quality that balances the innocence of a child’s perspective with the heavier realities unfolding around her. It feels nostalgic and tender, but there is an undercurrent of grief, uncertainty, and a family trying to find where they belong.
The audiobook narrator, Marisa Blake, did an amazing job bringing this story and its characters to life. She effortlessly switched between English and Spanish as the tale required, and her accent seemed perfect. She is the voice I will always associate with Andrea when I remember my time with this title.
Overall, The Things We Didn’t Know is a warmhearted tale about a Puerto Rican-American family that begins in the 1950s. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy exploring occasionally complicated family dynamics and those who have an interest in Hispanic-American culture and history.
Nerd Rating: 🤓🤓🤓🤓— tender, reflective, and quietly powerful
Click here to learn more about Elba Iris Pérez and The Things We Didn’t Know.
Let’s Discuss:
What book made a fictional family feel so real that you were sad to leave them?
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