Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

In this memoir, New York music journalist Cepeda (And It Don’t Stop) writes of her troubled upbringing with divorced Dominican parents, then delves energetically into DNA testing for a deeper search into her African roots. In prose street-slangy and outspoken, on the one hand, while prickly and preachy on the other, Cepeda recreates the fateful and doomed relationship of her very young mother, Rocio, from the barrio of Paraiso in Santo Domingo, and the suave bolero singer Eduardo, who whisked Rocio off to live in the slums of Washington Heights, in New York City, in 1972. Born soon after, the author spent a dysfunctional childhood bouncing among various family members: first with her mother, who frequently changed partners, had several more children, and could not care for her daughter; her grandparents back in Paraiso, where Cepeda found a modicum of security among loving relatives; and her father in New York, who was remarried, to the dour, blonde Alice, and insistent that his daughter take up competitive tennis. Spending her teenage years on the Dominican blocks of the city inculcated her to the rich mix of her heritage, as well as the not-so-subtle bigotry within the diverse neighborhood and schools. Scrappy, street-smart, quick to take offense, Cepeda was denigrated for embracing hip-hop music and black vernacular. Yet she learned later, on her intrepid journey through the DNA testing she undertook with help from her father and relatives, and which will surely be useful for her readers, how her roots tie her to West and North Africa. Agent: Ayesha Pande. (Mar.)