Quiara Alegría Hudes uses personal experiences and a careful choice of words to create touching narratives. As the writer of the novel In the Heights, the story and musical that took Broadway by storm beginning in 2005, it is no surprise Hudes is able to create music as she strings her words together—a melodic flow of emotion and curiosity jump from the page as you begin reading My Broken Language, her autobiographical memoir.
My Broken Language focuses on culture, love, loss, and growing up. As a child, Hudes experienced loss in the form of her mother and father divorcing. This created a rift within her; when her Jewish father and Puerto Rican mother split up, it not only terminated their relationship, but created a dissonance within Hudes. She realized that her parents’ differences were passed down to her; it was as if she had two separate beings inside of her. Hudes manages to artfully depict this struggle of realizing who you are and who you want to be through personal anecdotes containing both melancholic reflection and humor.
This glimpse into important moments of Hudes’ life are comforting and refreshing. She writes with vivid descriptions that feel as if you are reading the sheet music of a theatrical production. On page 78, Hudes writes:
Yes, it was true, and here lay the evidence: dance and possession were
dialects off the same mother tongue. I spoke neither. English, my best
language, had no vocabulary for the possession nor the dance. And English
was what I was made of. My words and my world did not align. That, perhaps,
made me a lost soul.
My Broken Language explores introspection on the part of Hudes. Although we all may not be facing an internal battle concerning culture (though, some may), we all have various conflicts, good days and bad days, loves and losses. Reading this memoir makes you want to pick up a pen and start recounting your own coming-of-age tale, to face all of those situations and moments filled with awkward encounters, sad moments, and even happy ones. As Hudes recounts her childhood, there is a sense of nostalgia and peacefulness through the hardships. The book is a detailed account of how Hudes conquered moments of failure and loss, as well as how she learned from them.
From one page to the next, you feel a certain ambition grow within Hudes. As she grows, her goals and mindset grow with her. Reading My Broken Language is inspiring, entertaining, and requires self-reflection. Throughout the 336 pages of the book, Hudes manages to convey her childhood with emotion that captures your attention and touches your soul.
My Broken Language
By Quiara Alegría Hudes
One World
Published April 6, 2021
336 Pages
Jeanna Stedman is a second-year Architecture major at Drexel University. In addition to her love of architecture, Jeanna’s passions include writing, graphic design, fashion, and working with children. She hopes to one day create an architecture and design based educational program that is accessible to young creatives across the city of Philadelphia.