Xiomara’s grandfather’s will drops this bombshell on his family, “One of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned.” The demon must be identified and expelled by sunrise. Once the message is read, the lawyer leaves to find a different will and the Abreu family find themselves trapped together in Papi Ramon’s house by a storm.
Over the course of the afternoon, evening, and night, the family secrets are revealed. Xiomara searches for evidence pointing to which of her family members is a demon and is faced with questions about the past. How did she get the scar on the back of her head? Why does she keep hearing a voice say, “do you want to know how your mother really died?” Did Papi Ramon ever tell her the truth?
I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to Knives Out, and I get it, but the Thromby’s got nothing on the Abreu family. The Abreu family is a wealthy Dominican American family. Papi Ramon had been a pastor who suddenly found great wealth as a businessman. The siblings and their children don’t like each other much and regularly practice unkindness. (At various points we hear Papi Ramon, in the past, wonder where he and his wife went wrong. Sir, was it when you made a deal with a demon? Or when you had more children because your eldest was clingy?) The secrets that come out confirm that they are self centered and exploit others for gain. The suspense builds until the final secrets are revealed. And then welcome to the Dead Dad club indeed. The title, You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom, becomes its own gut punch.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe. She is a Dominican poet and artist. Her narration was amazing. She gives Xiomara a questioning innocence that allows the reader to have an entry point to the quagmire that is her family.
I highly recommend this as an audiobook, and I recommend that you not listen right before bed.
