Boundaries

August 8, 2011
In this familiar tale by Nunez (Anna In-Between), Anna Sinclair, a 40-ish Caribbean-American living in New York, faces conflicting desires of wanting to assimilate yet wanting to still belong to the country she left behind. Early in the novel, her mother is diagnosed with cancer, which brings her elderly parents to the States and allows her to meet Caribbean-American oncologist Paul Bishop, who becomes her boyfriend. Anna, who works at a specialized imprint for a publishing house and wants to publish literary fiction by ethnic writers, comes into conflict with her colleagues as she learns the difference between various ethnic minority groups. She is constantly reminded that immigrant culture is about forming a “community” for aid and survival. An ambitious new colleague goes further by raising questions about her understanding of American culture. She questions her own ambitions in America, where assimilation seems like a pipe dream. Her dilemma of feeling uprooted and belonging nowhere is a common sentiment among immigrants, and the novel doesn’t break new ground. Even with the one-dimensional secondary characters and predictable plot, however, this bittersweet, sentimental novel will appeal to readers who’ve left home to make their path in the world.

September 15, 2011
A "Pandora's box of the whys" has earned Anna Sinclair, a Caribbean-American immigrant, the position of editor of Equiano, a specialty imprint of Windsor, a New York publishing house.

But Anna is divorced, nearing 40, coping with an ailing mother and facing complications at work. In Nunez's (Anna In-Between, 2009, etc.) latest, the author further explores immigrant life, a life where a hard-working woman can progress up the corporate ladder, buy an apartment in a soon-to-be trendy neighborhood, and still be plagued by outsider's angst. The story begins with Anna, edits completed on a promising literary novel, visiting her home island. She finds her mother refusing medical attention for obvious breast cancer. Anna pressures her to seek care. Eventually the case comes to Paul Bishop, a family friend and now a prominent surgeon in New Jersey. Paul agrees to perform the operation if Anna's mother agrees to have it done off-island. Paul also persuades Anna that they might find a personal connection. Anna's intrigued, but she is anxious about mother's condition and stressed by dramatic changes at work, including a new "assistant editor" hired without her input. The book expands to follow Anna into the jungle of modern-day publishing. After promises and subterfuge, the new hire, Tim Greene, an African-American with an unconventional childhood, becomes her boss. He closes her specialty imprint, making clear he believes her heritage leaves her disconnected audiences who want "chick-lit" and "ghetto-lit." Anna feels lost, trapped by cultural discrimination. She grows as a sympathetic character, and the author brings her reticent British-black culture parents to life as they travel to the U.S., cope with surgery, reveal themselves. Anna begins to understand her parents' love for her in spite of their reserved nature, and she finds their wisdom, and Paul's love, key to coping with the discrimination she faces at work.

A thoughtful literary novel exploring the shadows of cultural identity and the mirage of assimilation.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

Nunez offers a quiet, sensitive portrait of Anna Sinclair, a 39-year-old Caribbean American working her dream job as head of a publishing imprint specializing in writers of color. Just as Anna travels to the Caribbean to see her mother through chemotherapy and bring her to the United States for surgery, there are major changes at work. She returns to New York to find that the cover art and advertising campaign for an important forthcoming novel are built around a sex scene that hardly represents the story. What's more, a corporate merger has left a smaller role for Anna at the firm; higher-ups think an outsider like her can't really know what fiction appeals to African Americans. She laments the current trend that pigeonholes writers and readers. Even as Anna fights for a literature by writers of color that nevertheless speaks to a universal audience, she's playing the dutiful daughter to the immensely private mother Nunez's readers know from Anna In-Between. VERDICT This work covers a lot of ground, from mother-daughter and male-female relationships to the tensions between immigrants and the American born. It should have the wide appeal Anna would want for the books she champions.--Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Tech. & Community Coll., OH

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2011
As Nunez picks up the story from the conclusion of Anna In-Between (2010), publishing wunderkind Anna Sinclair finds herself at a personal and professional crossroad. Having finally convinced her mother to leave their Caribbean island home and come to Manhattan for lifesaving surgery following her breast-cancer diagnosis, Anna must now confront her reluctance to physically care for her mother and concerns that her life in the U.S. is not sufficiently successful to warrant her turning her back on her island heritage. Meanwhile, during Anna's prolonged absence while caring for her mother, an African American man has been hired as her new boss, jeopardizing the very career that lies at the heart of her family dilemma. Uncertain of her professional future, Anna confides in her mother's surgeon, fellow islander Dr. Paul Bishop, who helps Anna forge new bonds with her mother and contemplate new realizations about her own strengths and needs. Nunez deftly dissects the immigrant experience in light of cultural traditions that impact family roles, professional obligations, and romantic opportunities.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)