SOURCE: Kaveney, Roz. “Where the Heart Is.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 5201 (6 December 2002): 23.

In the following review, Kaveney lauds Cisneros's skillful blending of autobiography and fiction in Caramelo, calling the novel an “achieved and enjoyable book.”

The stories that Sandra Cisneros tells us about her Mexican American family [in Caramelo] are the ones we already know. A young hopeful bride turns into a bullying matriarch, then into a pathetic invalid who manages to ensure that her granddaughter at least no longer hates her. An ambitious young man finds his only real success is becoming a competent father. A smart, almost European metropolis degenerates into a slum; a hopeful revolution against corruption leads to disappointment and dependence on a more powerful neighbour; temporary exile to safety becomes an endless commute between the home where your heart is and the home where your life is. These are the commonplaces of post-colonial...