Historically Inaccurate

By: Jamie Steinberg

In the book Historically Inaccurate Sol Gutierrez has been through a lot in her short years on this earth. She was in a car accident with her mother and when she awoke in the hospital her mother had been taken into custody by ICE. Sol recovers, but now it is just her and her workaholic father. Finally looking to break out of her funk, she lets her friend Carlos entice her into joining the “History Club” at their college. Little does she know that this one action alone will change her entire life.

Carlos and Sol have been friends for many years. So, when he suggests she join The History Club at her college she considers it and eventually accepts, hoping to expand her social life and open up more. What she doesn’t understand is this club is less about History and more about friendship. However, new recruits are required to perform an assigned illegal activity as part of initiation. Sol is given the task of sneaking into the old Winston house and stealing a fork. Unfortunately, she gets caught in the act by the Winston’s grandson Ethan. And so begins Sol’s trajectory towards remorse, love and tearing down her walls.

Author Shay Bravo does a beautiful job of immersing readers into Sol’s world. We feel her desperation to find something to fill the void of a father who works to distract from the fact his wife has been deported. We also understand her need to find somewhere she can feel like a regular college kid with ride-or-die friends. My only complaint with the writing is that when the characters speak Spanish those who aren’t fluent either won’t understand what is being said or won’t be able to infer the meaning from the text.

The one thing readers should truly take away from Historically Inaccurate can best be summarized by a quote. “A family doesn’t always have to be a mom, dad and a son, sometimes it’s a single parent and a child, or grandparents and a grandchild, or even a couple by itself.” This is something that it takes a while for Sol to understand, but Bravo hopes readers will pick up on right away.