I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

by

Erika L. Sánchez

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Julia’s saint-like older sister Olga is already deceased at the start of the book, run over in the street by a huge truck after she was forced to take the bus home when Julia’s trouble at school required Amá to pick her up instead of Olga one fateful September afternoon. Julia’s guilt and grief over her sister’s death are immense, but she’s unable to really emote or express her sadness. Julia lived her whole life in Olga’s shadow, slipping further and further into rebellion, sarcasm, and introversion as she felt mounting pressure to be just as unimpeachable as the lovely Olga, who did all the things a “perfect Mexican daughter” should—stayed close to home and devoted to her parents while ignoring attention from boys and focusing instead on community college classes and a job at a medical office. After Olga’s death, Julia is desperate to learn more about the sister she always felt so distant from—but as she plunders through Olga’s things, she discovers much more than she bargained for. The discovery of sexy lingerie and a hotel key card pique Julia’s interest, and as she begs Olga’s old friends for answers, she discovers that Olga was not the person everyone thought she was—not by a long shot. Though Olga is not an active character in the novel, her presence looms over everyone and everything, pushing Julia onwards to uncover her family’s deepest secrets and understand her roots more clearly, with a more open heart.

Olga Reyes Quotes in I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

The I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter quotes below are all either spoken by Olga Reyes or refer to Olga Reyes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Secrets and Lies Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Saint Olga, the perfect Mexican daughter. Sometimes I wanted to scream at her until something switched on in her brain. But the only time I ever asked her why she didn’t move out or go to a real college, she told me to leave her alone in a voice so weak and brittle, I never wanted to ask her again. Now I’ll never know what Olga would have become. Maybe she would have surprised us all.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:

Olga’s friend Angie comes running in, looking like she was the one hit by a semi. She’s beautiful, but, damn, is she an ugly crier. Her skin is like a bright pink rag someone has wrung out. As soon as she sees Olga, she starts howling almost worse than Amá. I wish I knew the right thing to say, but I don’t. I never do.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Angie
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“You know, Julia, you’re always causing trouble, creating problems for your family. Now that she’s dead, all of a sudden you want to know everything about her? You hardly even spoke to her. Why didn’t you ask her anything when she was alive? Maybe you wouldn’t have to be here, asking me questions about her love life.”

Related Characters: Angie (speaker), Julia Reyes, Olga Reyes
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

The sky is still dark, but it’s beginning to brighten. There are beautiful, faint streaks of orange over the lake. It looks like it’s been cracked open.

I think of Jazmyn’s face when I told her about Olga. Everywhere I go, my sister’s ghost is hovering.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Lorena, Juanga, Jazmyn
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Amá just shakes her head. “You know, Julia, maybe if you knew how to behave yourself, to keep your mouth shut, your sister would still be alive. Have you ever thought about that?” She finally says it. She says what her big, sad eyes were telling me all along.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Related Symbols: Julia’s Quinceañera
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

What if I’m wrong about my sister? What if she was the sweet, boring Olga I always knew her to be? What if I just want to think there was something below the surface? What if, in my own messed-up way, I want her to be less than perfect, so I didn’t feel like such a fuck-up?

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis:

How could I have been so dumb not to notice anything? But then again, how would anyone have known? Olga kept this sealed up and buried like an ancient tomb. My whole life I’ve been considered the bad daughter, while my sister was secretly living another life, the kind of life that would shatter Amá into tiny pieces. I don’t want to be mad at Olga because she’s dead, but I am.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes
Page Number: 240
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

My body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. I picture my mother’s face streaked with tears and dirt, my father bowing his head in defeat. “And Olga? What about Olga? She was . . . She was ...” I can’t get the words out.

Tía Fermina clasps her hands to her chest and nods. “See, mija, that’s why I want you to know. So when you and your mother fight, you can see where she’s come from and understand what’s happened to her. She doesn’t mean to hurt you.”

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Tía Fermina (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 274-275
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

“I understand that it hurts, believe me, but this isn’t about you. […] Why would you want to cause your family more pain?

“Because we shouldn’t be living lies,” I say. […] “I’m tired of pretending and letting things blister inside me. Keeping things to myself almost killed me. I don’t want to live like that anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Forget it.” Part of me wonders if Angie is right—who am I to do this to my family?—but I hate this feeling, like the weight of this will make my chest collapse.

Angie wipes the tears from her eyes with her palms. “Some things should never be said out loud, Julia. Can’t you see that?”

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Angie (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 295-296
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“What do I do with this?” I say to myself aloud. “How do I bury this, too?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how am I going to keep this secret? Why do I have to be the one living with this shit?”

“Please, don’t tell your parents. Olga never wanted to hurt them.”

“Why wouldn’t I? And why should I listen to you?”

“Sometimes it’s best not to tell the truth.”

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Dr. Castillo (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 312
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

There are times the secrets feel like strangling vines. Is it considered lying when you hold something locked up inside you? What if the information would only cause people pain? Who would benefit from knowing about Olga’s affair and pregnancy? Is it kind or selfish for me to keep this all to myself? Would it be messed up if I said it just so I don’t have to live with it alone? It’s exhausting.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29 Quotes

I still have nightmares about Olga. Sometimes she’s a mermaid again, other times she’s holding her baby, which is often not a baby at all. Usually, it’s a rock, a fish, or even a sack of rags. Though it’s slowed, my guilt still grows like branches. I wonder when it’ll stop, feeling bad for something that’s not my fault. Who knows? Maybe never.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 339
Explanation and Analysis:

I pull out Olga’s ultrasound picture from my journal before we land. At times, it looks like an egg. Occasionally, it looks like an eye. The other day I was convinced I could see it pulsing. How can I ever give this to my parents, something else to love, something dead? These last two years I combed and delved through my sister’s life to better understand her, which meant I learned to find pieces of myself—both beautiful and ugly—and how amazing is it that I hold a piece of her right here in my hands?

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 340
Explanation and Analysis:
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Olga Reyes Quotes in I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

The I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter quotes below are all either spoken by Olga Reyes or refer to Olga Reyes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Secrets and Lies Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Saint Olga, the perfect Mexican daughter. Sometimes I wanted to scream at her until something switched on in her brain. But the only time I ever asked her why she didn’t move out or go to a real college, she told me to leave her alone in a voice so weak and brittle, I never wanted to ask her again. Now I’ll never know what Olga would have become. Maybe she would have surprised us all.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:

Olga’s friend Angie comes running in, looking like she was the one hit by a semi. She’s beautiful, but, damn, is she an ugly crier. Her skin is like a bright pink rag someone has wrung out. As soon as she sees Olga, she starts howling almost worse than Amá. I wish I knew the right thing to say, but I don’t. I never do.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Angie
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“You know, Julia, you’re always causing trouble, creating problems for your family. Now that she’s dead, all of a sudden you want to know everything about her? You hardly even spoke to her. Why didn’t you ask her anything when she was alive? Maybe you wouldn’t have to be here, asking me questions about her love life.”

Related Characters: Angie (speaker), Julia Reyes, Olga Reyes
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

The sky is still dark, but it’s beginning to brighten. There are beautiful, faint streaks of orange over the lake. It looks like it’s been cracked open.

I think of Jazmyn’s face when I told her about Olga. Everywhere I go, my sister’s ghost is hovering.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Lorena, Juanga, Jazmyn
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Amá just shakes her head. “You know, Julia, maybe if you knew how to behave yourself, to keep your mouth shut, your sister would still be alive. Have you ever thought about that?” She finally says it. She says what her big, sad eyes were telling me all along.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Related Symbols: Julia’s Quinceañera
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

What if I’m wrong about my sister? What if she was the sweet, boring Olga I always knew her to be? What if I just want to think there was something below the surface? What if, in my own messed-up way, I want her to be less than perfect, so I didn’t feel like such a fuck-up?

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis:

How could I have been so dumb not to notice anything? But then again, how would anyone have known? Olga kept this sealed up and buried like an ancient tomb. My whole life I’ve been considered the bad daughter, while my sister was secretly living another life, the kind of life that would shatter Amá into tiny pieces. I don’t want to be mad at Olga because she’s dead, but I am.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes
Page Number: 240
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

My body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. I picture my mother’s face streaked with tears and dirt, my father bowing his head in defeat. “And Olga? What about Olga? She was . . . She was ...” I can’t get the words out.

Tía Fermina clasps her hands to her chest and nods. “See, mija, that’s why I want you to know. So when you and your mother fight, you can see where she’s come from and understand what’s happened to her. She doesn’t mean to hurt you.”

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Tía Fermina (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 274-275
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

“I understand that it hurts, believe me, but this isn’t about you. […] Why would you want to cause your family more pain?

“Because we shouldn’t be living lies,” I say. […] “I’m tired of pretending and letting things blister inside me. Keeping things to myself almost killed me. I don’t want to live like that anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Forget it.” Part of me wonders if Angie is right—who am I to do this to my family?—but I hate this feeling, like the weight of this will make my chest collapse.

Angie wipes the tears from her eyes with her palms. “Some things should never be said out loud, Julia. Can’t you see that?”

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Angie (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 295-296
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“What do I do with this?” I say to myself aloud. “How do I bury this, too?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how am I going to keep this secret? Why do I have to be the one living with this shit?”

“Please, don’t tell your parents. Olga never wanted to hurt them.”

“Why wouldn’t I? And why should I listen to you?”

“Sometimes it’s best not to tell the truth.”

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Dr. Castillo (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 312
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

There are times the secrets feel like strangling vines. Is it considered lying when you hold something locked up inside you? What if the information would only cause people pain? Who would benefit from knowing about Olga’s affair and pregnancy? Is it kind or selfish for me to keep this all to myself? Would it be messed up if I said it just so I don’t have to live with it alone? It’s exhausting.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29 Quotes

I still have nightmares about Olga. Sometimes she’s a mermaid again, other times she’s holding her baby, which is often not a baby at all. Usually, it’s a rock, a fish, or even a sack of rags. Though it’s slowed, my guilt still grows like branches. I wonder when it’ll stop, feeling bad for something that’s not my fault. Who knows? Maybe never.

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes
Page Number: 339
Explanation and Analysis:

I pull out Olga’s ultrasound picture from my journal before we land. At times, it looks like an egg. Occasionally, it looks like an eye. The other day I was convinced I could see it pulsing. How can I ever give this to my parents, something else to love, something dead? These last two years I combed and delved through my sister’s life to better understand her, which meant I learned to find pieces of myself—both beautiful and ugly—and how amazing is it that I hold a piece of her right here in my hands?

Related Characters: Julia Reyes (speaker), Olga Reyes, Amá/Amparo Montenegro Reyes, Apá/Rafael Reyes
Page Number: 340
Explanation and Analysis: