Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood

Torn between the high socioeconomic status of her father and the bohemian lifestyle of her mother, Melissa Hart tells a compelling story of contradiction in this coming-of-age memoir. Set in 1970s Southern California, Gringais the story of a young girl conflicted by two extremes--life with her mother, who leaves her father to begin a lesbian relationship, taking Hart and her two siblings along, and her father's white-bread well-to-do security, which is predictable and stable and boring. She tells of her mom's new life in a Hispanic neighborhood of Oxnard, California, and how these new surroundings begin to positively shape Hart herself. Ultimately, however, a judge rules that being raised by two women is "unnatural" and grants her father primary custody.

Hart weaves a powerful story of fleeting moments with her mother, of her unfolding adoration of Oxnard's Latino culture, and of the ways in which she's molded by the polarity of her parents' worldviews. Gringa offers a touching, reflective look at one girl's struggle with the dichotomies of class, culture, and sexuality.