Do You Believe in Miracles, or Not?By: Nhat Do The novel “Finding Miracles” by Julia Alvarez retells wonderful miracles happened in this story that changed Milly’s life. Yet, miracles only appeared when she overcame her feeling of being ashamed because of her identity and tried to find out the truth. Firstly, after Milly knew she was adopted, she wanted to visit her birth country, el paisito. As she arrived, she “landed in her country”, she felt at home here (p.168). Next morning, Pablo handed her the tiny double flower called tu-y-yo, which meant “you-and-me”, which was “a new memory” for her in el paisito (p.173). Another example is, miracles happened when Milly fell in love with Pablo. At the beach, Milly caught Pablo’s eyes “taking all her in”, he was looking her up and down, she wondered if Pablo “had secret feeling for her” (p.197). Milly also felt “tranquil and happy” beside Pablo, her heart “felt all by itself”, and then Pablo’s lips “touched” hers, they “fell into an embrace” (p.199). Finally, Milly went to meet Doña Gloria, who could give her some information about her life. At the church, after hearing the stories, Milly was “sobbing”, Doña Gloria saved her life by “preventing her abortion”, and she felt “lucky just to be alive” (p.247). Though Milly didn’t know who her parents truly were, she thought they could be historical heroes who fought against dictatorship, which made her proud (p.246). Through the story “Finding Miracles”, Julia showed that wonderful miracles brought happiness and amazing things to people. These miracles are like the boat, once people try to ride it along their trip, the boat will take them to the new land with enjoyable things lying ahead, but if they don’t use it, they are merely spending their whole lives living with boring and lifeless life.
"Finding Miracles", is a very interesting book.She is adopted from a different country. Milly's parents have a box of everything they know about her from before they adopted her. One day a boy, Pablo, arrives at her school,she sees there's a connection between them; she hopes no one makes a connection, that they are from the same country. As she goes along she decides to get to know Pablo, she gets more interested in knowing who her birth parents are.Finally Pablo and his parents go back to their country(after it has been free from dictatorship)and Milly decides to go along with them. There she begins finding more pieces of her life, that go along with the stuff from her box. On that trip she is for sure that she is in love with Pablo, and he is also in love with her, there they become more than friends. He is a big help to her while she is finding out about her parents. They go to see Dona Gloria, a lady that has been around in a town called Los Luceros; which is where Pablo think Milly is from, due to her eyes.There she hears about three women that had a baby girl around the same time that Milly was born; each of them, share something from the box. Therefore Milly is not sure if any of those women could of been her mother. In the end Milly returns back home with her family, not being so carious about her birth parents anymore. She has also made a new family, that she loves and relates to, because they are from the same place.
What do You think about Finding Miracles (2006)?
MILLY KAUFMAN IS an ordinary American teenager living in Vermont—until she meets Pablo, a new student at her high school. His exotic accent, strange fashion sense, and intense interest in Milly force her to confront her identity as an adopted child...more MILLY KAUFMAN IS an ordinary American teenager living in Vermont—until she meets Pablo, a new student at her high school. His exotic accent, strange fashion sense, and intense interest in Milly force her to confront her identity as an adopted child from Pablo’s native country. As their relationship grows, Milly decides to undertake a courageous journey to her homeland and along the way discovers the story of her birth is intertwined with the story of a country recovering from a brutal history. Beautifully written by reknowned author Julia Alvarez, Finding Miracles examines the emotional complexity of familial relationships and the miracles of everyday life.
—Heaяts&Smiles_♰ .
This book is about a girl, Milly. She is adopted from a little village in Mexico. When a boy, Pablo also from Mexico, winds up in her school in Vermont, all the questions start to pop in Milly's head. The two look alike and every time Pablo sees Milly he always stares Luke there was something wrong with her. After a while they started to become very good friends. Their relationship grew stronger and yheyvspent more time together. But could on vist to her home country make everything different? I can make a text to world connection. My connection is that many children all over the world are adopted. They all wonder the same thing. Who are my parents, what do they look like, why was I put up or adoption, etc. But teyvwould never really found the answer. It was a little different for Milly she got to learn a little more than other people do. I would give this book 5 stars. This is because I thought that the author dis a really nice job making the story interesting. I could easily relate to Milly. I felt connected. This book would be good for any adopted person and someone who has read books by Julia Alverez.
—Ella Perkins
Another wonderful book from Julia Alvarez. Themes of adoption and cultural identity are handled beautifully in this novel about Milly, a baby adopted by Peace Corps parents from a Latin American country ravaged by war. In the back matter of the paperback version I read, there is a conversation with Julia Alvarez where she explains why she did not identify the country of Milly's birth, a region of great suffering and turmoil. I thought her reasoning was brilliant and deepened the impact of the story."By not specifying the country, I thought I would make it harder for readers to dismiss how pervasive this situation was.("Oh, that only happened in Gautemala or Chile or El Salvador.")"
—Jacqueline
