Amaris Castillo's sharply observed debut, Bodega Stories, captures the daily details of life at Orlando Latin Market, the bodega owned and operated by Castillo's parents in St. Petersburg, Fla. Castillo shares her parents' history as Dominican immigrants, bodegueros (bodega operators), and small-business owners, while providing colorful portraits of staff members and regulars at the market.
Castillo begins with a hand-drawn map of the bodega and directions: "Drive through St. Petersburg, down US 19. Make a right on Thirtieth Avenue North." Throughout her narrative, she places Orlando Latin Market in its context as a typical Latino-owned bodega but also underscores its particularity. The store's bulletin board, covered in ads for efficiency apartments for rent, furniture for sale, English-language classes, and other notices, serves as an ever-changing barometer of the neighborhood: what people need, what they want, what they are constantly looking for.
The other reliable barometer of the store's mood is its customers. Castillo profiles many bodega regulars with compassion and a keen eye. There's Esther, who comes in regularly for chicharrones; Miguel, who is nearly finished with trucking school and is there to shop for his cousin; 87-year-old José, known as Negrito, who picks up ingredients for his sister-in-law's sancocho. Each customer finds what they need--aguacates, fried plantains, hot food, cleaning supplies--but they also form strong relationships with one another and the staff.
Castillo, who logged plenty of hours behind the bodega counter as a young woman, writes with warmth and candor about the grueling work required of bodegueros and their employees. She celebrates her parents, Damaris and Freddy, recounting their history as immigrants to New York City and the early days of their marriage, their quiet dedication to their store and community, the way they provide a third space for their customers and staff, and the way they "choose each other and their business day after day after day." Several chapters are written as conversations with one parent or the other, highlighting Freddy's sense of humor and Damaris's constant need to feed and nourish her children, even when they're grown. Castillo also profiles her grandmother, Abuela Rosa Julia, who ran a "bodeguita chiquita" in her home in Santo Domingo, and her Tía Margarita, who spent years working at Orlando Latin Market. Castillo touches on the broader history of Latin American immigrants opening bodegas and other small businesses in the U.S., but this is mostly her family's story, and she tells it with sensitivity and style.
Brimming with sensory details and lively character sketches, Bodega Stories is a loving portrait of a family business and the community it both supports and creates. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Amaris Castillo's engaging debut paints a warm, lively portrait of her parents' bodega in Florida and the community that surrounds it.