A brief interview with Raquel Cepeda:http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/01/new-book-being-latino-means-being-from-everywhere/
Terrific book. Cepeda's background in journalism shines; she's adept at storytelling, and uses it to great effect in this book, where she seamlessly shares her personal story and examines race in a more academic way.
Cepeda's personal story is both fascinating and horrific. Her journey toward a racial identity has a backdrop of living in both the Dominican Republic and New York, hip hop, abandonment by her mother, and abuse by her father. Her personal identity is a tapestry of many threads, and she creates another tapestry via this book - the story of the development of that identity. That alone would make for an important, relevant, and interesting book. But wait, there's more! The second half of the book focuses on Cepeda's search for her DNA roots. Her search leads her to Africa and to relatives she didn't know existed. Although this second section of the book has a different focus, Cepeda's ability as a storyteller and writer make it accessible and interesting.
I highly recommend the book.
