Make Your Home Among Strangers

Ariel Hernandez is a ghostly figure, lurking at the edges of the plot of this novel. What is his purpose? How does his situation mimic Lizet’s?

Early in the novel, Ethan bonds with Lizet over being from a low-income family—though he is white, Lizet feels relief hearing that he also struggles in this way. How does this experience reflect the blurred lines between race, class, and gender in other moments in the novel?

How does what Lizet wants for herself change throughout the novel? What prompts those changes?

Why is it important that Caridaylis is “painfully generic, the quintessential girl from Miami” (238)? How does this fact influence Lizet and Mami’s dueling feelings about her?

Who does and does not define Lizet as Cuban? How does she define herself? How do varying perspectives shift the way characters define what it means to be Cuban?

The question of what is or is not deserved comes up often in this novel. How are these opinions formed? Based on the logic of Lizet, who deserves what, and why? How is it different for Papi, Leidy, and Mami?

Why does Lizet want to save Mami from her obsession with Ariel? What is she afraid of?

How does Lizet experience racism and bias at Rawlings? What forms does it take, and what does she do to cope with and combat it?