Yo!

Yolanda Garcia - Yo, for short - is the literary one in the family. Her first published novel, in which she made "characters" out of her three sisters, her Mami and Papi, her grandparents, tias, tios, cousins, housemaids, and husbands was a big success. Now she's famous and basking in the spotlight while her "characters" find their naked and very recognizable selves dangling in that same blinding light. So what happens? Turnabout is fair play. Yolanda Garcia's family and friends get their chance to tell the truth about Yo. Everyone, from her sisters to her fame-obsessed stalker, rips into her. In the process, they create endearing self-portraits, while Yo (which also means "I") is herself denied the privilege of speaking in her own defense. This zesty, daring novel is about what happens when an author really does "write what she knows." At once funny and poignant, intellectual and gossipy, lighthearted and layered in meaning, Yo! is, ironically and above all, a portrait of the artist.