Review: Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity by Angela Velez

Many of us emerged, blinking from the darkness of endless lockdowns with the sickening realisation that our ability to complete a book had taken somewhat of a battering. I was one of those bloodied soldiers. The delightful, but not too sugary, confection of Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity helped to heal the mushy mess of my pandemic brain, and for that, I’m grateful.

The book tells the interwoven stories of three Peruvian-American sisters: oldest and least-seen Clara, seemingly dazzling at college; irreverent middle sister Milagro, constantly thumbing her nose at the strict nuns in her school, and youngest Lulu, a gifted but painfully shy budding biologist.

Lulu and Milagro are thrown together for a cross-country college road trip, and many hijinks and heartbreaks ensue. Angela Velez’s highly entertaining debut novel tips along very pleasantly, with many misunderstandings, tears, and revelations. At times, I felt like reaching into the pages, banging Lulu and Milagro’s heads together, and pleading with them to just get along. Some toe-curling incidents happen along the way and I found myself occasionally wincing and laughing across the course of a single page. Lulu and Milagro are two endearing protagonists, complex and contradictory.

 

Overall, this is a wonderfully vibrant debut, and Velez has vividly captured the alternate agony and ecstasy of being a teenager: struggling with your identity; feeling suffocated by parental expectations; bonding with your siblings over your shared history. I also loved the Spanish that was peppered throughout,. A joyous, effervescent read. I can’t wait to see what Velez writes next.

 

Caitríona O’Malley