The Secret Side of Empty by Maria E. Andreu (2014)

M.T. is finishing up her senior year of high school, but where her classmates are eagerly anticipating college and the next chapter in their lives, she dreads the end of high school. Monserrat Thalia (M.T. for short) is illegal.

Her parents came to American from Argentina when she was a baby, and they are undocumented immigrants. Which means no papers, and no papers means no college, no jobs, no future. . Her rocky relationship with her parents makes life even harder, despite the presence of good friends and a new boyfriend. M.T. needs to figure out a way to make a life for herself in this country and face the challenges ahead.

The subject of being an undocumented immigrant is beautifully handled in this novel, and based on the author’s own experiences. Although it’s a really tough subject and M.T. goes through some brutal times, M.T.’s voice and humor keeps this eminently readable. Andreu creates wonderfully vivid depictions of parent-teen relationships as well as the experience of first love, and there are some great hilarious lines in this novel. Andreu, born in Spain and raised in Argentina, crossed the Mexican border into US at age 8 and became a citizen under the American Dream Act.

A few quotes I love:

“I will always be a stranger everywhere. With my parents, I am too American. With Americans, I am spectator with my nose pressed against their windowpanes, watching their weird rituals and rites of passage, never quite understanding them completely. A little chunk of me will always be a stranger everywhere, different chunks of stranger in different situations.” (p. 98)

“But then maybe there is no such thing as good kissers and bad kissers. Maybe there is only finding someone who kisses like you do, and kissing each other, only to ten find it breathtakingly good.” (p. 142)