When I Was Puerto Rican is a memoir by Esmeralda Santiago. It was published in 1993 by Da Capo Press. The book is the first of three books that Santiago wrote about her life. The other two, Almost a Woman and The Turkish Lover, cover later periods.
In When I Was Puerto Rican, Santiago writes about her childhood in Puerto Rico. She explores her family life, often turbulent, and details her family’s migration to New York. The book ends when she is fourteen, having just been accepted into New York's High School of Performing Arts. Almost a Woman picks up where When I Was Puerto Rican leaves off, tracking Esmeralda’s teenage years in New York City.
Kirkus Reviews describes the book as “cleareyed, quietly powerful, and often lyrical: a story of true grit.” Fellow author Liliam Rivera writes that through Santiago’s writing the island of Puerto Rico is “displayed with beauty and poignancy.” Rivera continues that When I Was Puerto Rican remains as relevant today as it was in 1993. Given the modern challenges facing the island and its people, it’s vital to have a literary work such as Santiago's which, “demonstrates the resilience of Puerto Rican people, even in the face of unforeseeable obstacles.”
