After being born in Indiana, David and his family moved back to his parents’ native Puerto Rico. David grew up in rural poverty there until his family decided to move back to the mainland United States, living in urban poverty. This memoir is written as a conversation between David and his sons, explaining how he was able to overcome obstacles to become a successful adult.

It was interesting to learn about David and his family’s experiences and how they reacted to them. I enjoyed Gary Tiedemann’s narration of the audiobook, but I think this might be a book I would prefer in print to see the included photographs. The strategy of writing the book as a conversation with his sons didn’t work especially well for me, as it happened infrequently enough that I would forget he was doing it until they suddenly popped up again.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I had no idea who David Morales was before reading this book, but his story was very good and inspiring and I’m so glad I read this memoir.

This is a wonderful, heart-warming memoir in which a father tells his life story to his teenage sons while his wife listens. I'm giving it five stars because I enjoyed listening to the audio, and appreciate the intention of the book. I feel inspired and wish I'd read this as a teenager rather than as an old lady. It is good for any age, but I'd say it is essential for teenagers of all cultures. Great food for thought!

He starts with his birth in Illinois, USA and then explains why his parents moved their family back to Puerto Rico. He lived there several years as a child. The family lived in extreme poverty in what sounded to me like substandard housing. Fortunately food was readily harvested nearby, so the family was not hungry. Eventually they decided to move back to the USA where they settled in Massachusetts.

The author described his family members and it was clearly apparent how much he loved each of them dearly. They were not perfect people as they dealt with their deprivations and life in the ghetto in different ways, but they were all perfectly loved. This was a very close family!

I liked the memoir because it told me something about a culture I've never learned about before. The section about Puerto Rico fascinated me as I've never before read any novel or memoir set in that country. I'd like to know more! The sections about his teen years in Massachusetts were equally interesting as I learned how he coped emotionally with his poverty while in high school.

I listened to the audiobook version of this memoir and I have to mention the narrator, Gary Tiedemann. This was a perfect narration. His voice was filled with the compassion and fatherly concerns of the man who wrote this memoir, David Morales. I would not hesitate to listen to another recording done by this narrator, if the topic of the book interested me.

This memoir was a page turner, unputdownable, just about... I never tired of listening to it. By the end I knew about all the family members - what they went through in Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, and where they're at in life now. It is pretty interesting to hear how they've changed and managed to survive.

I recommend this book for anyone who would like to know about the culture of Puerto Rican immigrants in the USA. I think listening to this audiobook would be a benefit for everyone, but especially for teenagers. Having this information in high school would be a great help for people of all races and cultures.

I thank the publisher for making an advance reader copy of this available to me through NetGalley. All comments in this review are my own, sincerely given.

Trigger warnings...
There are a few bad words late in the narrative but not many (maybe two? - I didn't count.) and they didn't interfere with my appreciation of this book.
There are mentions of teenage friends dying but they are not a major part of the story.

This was written by a Christian and he mentions his faith in the memoir, but not in a way that tries to convert the reader. It is just part of who he is and occasionally gets mentioned. You could say this is his testimony, but more than that, it is his inspirational and honest life story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Goodreads for the audio and digital copies of this memoir book. I absolutely adore memoirs. I love hearing about and learing about other people and their experices. I was surprised to learn that the author is younger and in his fourties so I feel like I was able to connect with them on the age category level and being able to relatte to the general era in which he grew up.. I was happy to to read about someone going from nothing to somthing. He really made life count!

One of the best memoirs I have ever read. I was able to understand, empathize, relate as well as appreciate the author's life and struggles. In addition to a well-written story, the narrator completed the experience.

Gary Tiedemann provided the voice with enough accent to feel real without the dialect being too strong to understand what was being said. Bravo.

Without spoiling, the story is a move to the US for a better life from Puerto Rico. The problems faced in the US that were not unexpected as well as defining poverty in each country is addressed. Cultural family responsibilities from an ethnic group are stressed and adhered to.

Beautifully written, narrated, and lessons to be learned.

Thank you NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for accepting my request to read and review American Familia.

Mr Morales takes us back in time with his two young boys as he shares his experiences growing up as a Puerto Rican American. He sheds light on the struggles he and his family faced and the guiding beacons of family, faith, and friendship that helped them overcome these one by one. A great book for teenagers who feel adrift without a sense of purpose. Mr Morales' worries will resonate with many. Appropriate to read and discuss as a family when ideas about sense of self, finances, worries at school, what to do post high school surface in our lives. The book also features great inspirational quotes to live by.

An American familia by David Morales we learn about growing up with his two brothers in Puerto Rico where there was food that could be picked up the trees in the yard and in America the land of the plenty where if you don’t have money you don’t eat. The book is a conversation with this two boys and I thought how perfect his description of his teenager was and how lovable his younger son was. I listen to the audiobook and thought the narrator went a great quality to the conversation when we learned about the night he passed out for two days I want to strangers floor in the realization his friends didn’t come to help him nor to see if he was OK and how he could’ve lost everything including his life. We learn about how we met his wife in so much more. I really thought this was an interesting book and again I think it’s narrated by someone else it wouldn’t have been the same I truly enjoyed this book it will probably listen to it again in the future. I was given this book by Net Gally and I am leaving this reviewed voluntarily please forgive any grammar or punctuation errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.. I want to apologize for the narrator for not knowing his name just know you did a wonderful job!

This was a different, and yet familiar. It was nice to write something that felt like you were in a family. Or like you randomly get invited to a friends Thanksgiving and this is their crazy family and it’s amazing