This Could Be Us

Through Soledad’s family and those of her friends, the novel examines the tensions in marriages between people of different ethnicities and the way this kind of multi-ethnic and multi-racial heritage affects children.

Soledad learned at a young age how to navigate being a person of multiple ethnicities. While her father, Jason, was “a ginger with freckles and a gangly frame” (47), her mother had Black and Puerto Rican heritage. Her father’s mother lived in the American South and shared her Southern recipes with Soledad and her sisters, while Soledad’s abuela, with whom she spent summers in Puerto Rico, shared her own culture, traditions, and food. One element of this history is the Grito de Lares flag, a symbol of the uprising against Spanish rule that took place in Puerto Rico in 1868. Because of this time spent with their grandmother, Soledad and her sisters refer to themselves as Boricua—a term describing those of Puerto Rican ancestry—and Lola calls their sisterly chat the “Boricua High Council.” Soledad’s sisters do not look alike: Lupe inherited the features of her Black father, Brayden, while Soledad and Nayeli, who shared a white father, look more like their mother. Because of this, the sisters grew up aware of colorism—bias in which lighter skin is valued over a darker complexion. Guarding against this kind of external judgment, the sisters fiercely protected Lola from prejudice.

Having learned this closeness with her sisters, Soledad has made a special effort to make sure her daughters all feel equally loved, valued, and beautiful, though their genetics present in different ways as well. Lupe inherited her grandfather’s red hair, “Edward’s green eyes and her own pale-gold skin” (17), which leads Oneida, Edward’s mother, to perceive Lupe as more beautiful than Inez or Lottie, who “took a deep dive into the African American and Puerto Rican end of [her] gene pool” (34). Soledad resists exposing Lupe to Oneida’s racist attitude. At the same time, she sends Inez and Lottie to Harrington, a private, predominately white school they call the “Twiwhite Zone” despite the challenges they might face as some of the few students of color (34). Taking the risk that they might feel isolated or, worse, experience discrimination for the color of their skin, Soledad makes an effort to keep the girls at Harrington—including taking Oneida’s money, along with her snide remarks—because of the opportunities it offers, like Lottie’s gymnastics.

Soledad’s facility in navigating the many cultures that form her background is illustrated most vividly in her cooking. Soledad expresses love through food and also uses her recipes to express her pride in her heritage. Whether it’s the focaccia bread she delivers, the vinaigrette video that goes viral, the carne guisada she describes to Judah when they first meet, the pasteles she makes for Nochebuena, or the peace cobbler she learned from her grandmother, all of Soledad’s cooking is a testament to her ease with her multiple ethnicities. When Soledad hosts her dinner at the end of the book, the guests at her table are a diverse group, affirming that every person, no matter their heritage, background, or ability, is deserving of love, respect, and just treatment.