"I think it's really important to read first person accounts of the way Black people are disadvantaged by the structures of American society. In the end, however, it's a deeply inspiring story from someone who was almost destroyed by the disadvantages piled onto them by society but who managed to rise up."
"It's a bracing memoir in the same vein as "Notes From a Young Black Chef," about someone almost destroyed by the deep structural racism of our society, but who managed, eventually, to rise up to help others."
"I learned many things from Elaine Castillo's deep and rich novel "America Is Not the Heart," a saga of several generations of Filipino-Americans in California. It's about culture and alienation, at all levels."
