Pilar Ramirez and the Escape from Zafa by Julian Randall (Pilar Ramirez #1)

Reviewed by Sam!

What I drank prior: it’s Liz’s birthday!! We’ve had birthday festivities with tequila and rum and seltzers and don’t ask me to count cause I can’t do that. In the Uber on the way home now.

Drunk Overview: so… this is the story of Pilar, a 12 year old Dominican from Chicago who’s an aspiring documentarian. She’s working in a documentary about the people who lived through the dictatorship “El Trujillo” in the DR. She goes to the university to meet with a professor who may have info about her long lost Tia, woo disappaeared, assumed was taken by the secret police. When waiting in his office she falls through a piece of paper to a fantasy world where El Trujillo is real. She goes on an adventure to get home.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: this was so freaking cute.

Characters: ok what i loved about this so freaking much were the characters. The women that she meets in the fake world all serve a purpose. They’re not super deep or well rounded but this is a middle grade book and they don’t need to be. They just need to be relateable abd thise ones are. Pilar is so sweet too. Very down to earth, very much a real 12 year old.

Plot: ok so the plot is basically trying to get home but also trying to free the “prisoners” that were disappeared. It was great. It was compelling. I immediately bought the second one.

Writing Style: THIS IS THE BEST PART OF THIS BOOK. Pero, like, they write in spanglish the way that my grandmother and some of my other family members do. It was beautiful and comforting instantaneously and i loved it.

World Building: so this wasn’t the best, like the spanglish, but certainly the most interesting. Randall reimagined a terrible time in Dominican history and made it a fantasy world. The people in the prison weren’t disappeared by the secret police during a coups. They were disappered by the big bad in the fantasy world. What a great way to explain how terrifying that time was in history to a child. Just great.

What to pair it with: Rum and Coke. Period.

Rating: 5/5 Shots

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam