Abstract
This article examines Belinda Acosta’s <em>Sisters, Strangers, and Starting Over</em> (2010) through the lens of testimonio narrative methodology, particularly as employed by US Latina feminist writers. This second book in Acosta’s <em>Quinceañera Club</em> series is set in San Antonio, Texas, interweaving plot connections to Juárez, Mexico. A close analysis reveals that Acosta’s novel reflects characteristics of Latinx testimonio narrative methodology with its inclusion of the character Perla Sánchez, who is erased from her family’s history and then killed in Juárez decades later. While the novel focuses on family separation and healing with the quinceañera in the background, Acosta highlights the erasures of young Chicanas and the violent consequences of breaking with hegemonic expectations for girls in Latinx culture. Acosta’s novel testifies to the social injustice of women who are disappeared and violated in the Latinx culture, and even silenced and forgotten in the Latinx family. Moreover, the novel employs the quinceañera ritual and strong Chicana characters to correct the condoned silences in the Latinx family.
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