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Taylor Hammond
English 102
Matt Teory
4 May 2014
The Lesser Tragedy of Death Book Review
Christina Garcia is a vivid and exceptional writer! Her childhood has given her a clear
and interesting perspective on what happens when a family member becomes addicted to drugs.
Her book "The Lesser Tragedy of Death" is a fantastic novel designed to make the reader ana-
lyze life from the perspective of a worrying sister as she witnesses her brother suffer through the
consequences that he brought upon himself.
Cristina Garcia was born on July 4, 1958 in Havana, Cuba where her and her family re-
sided until they fled after the successful Cuban Revolution. As she grew up Garcia slowly be-
came an exceptional student which allowed her to attend very high-end Universities within the
United States. After receiving her degree in political science from Barnard College and her mas-
ters degree in Latin American Studies from Johns Hopkins University Garcia went on to becom-
ing a reporter and researcher for Time Magazine. Garcia then rose through the ranks to become
Bureau Chief and correspondent until 1990 where she decided to leave Time Magazine to pursue
her passion for innovative writing. Her first successful novel Dreaming in Cuban was awarded
the National Book Award in 1992 which she then went on to write many other books such as The
Aguero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, and her most recent novel A Handbook to Luck. The life in
which Garcia has led had a major influence upon her novel The Lesser Tragedy of Death.
The theme in which Garcia wrote this novel in is the hardships that a family goes through
when they have a family member suffering from drug addiction. She exemplifies this helpless-
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ness in her poem Salvation where the narrator explains, Our sister tried to save you, tracked
you down to crack dens, bullied pushers. When she finally gave up, it wasnt on you, but on mar-
tyrdom (Garcia 60). This idea of helplessness is universal in todays society especially with
the uprise in drug addictions and fatalities. Its a theme that explains that we can only do so
much for our fellow family members no matter how much we care for them. Another example of
this theme within the novel is from the poem Flight School which is a poem about Garcias
brother doing seemingly well, flying private jets, then all of a sudden turning back to selling
drugs. you flew the private Cessnas. I imagine you soaring against the clean northern skies,
shredding clouds to oblivion. Next thing I heard you were busted. Is it true what they said? That
you ran the biggest crack den in New England (Garcia 48)? From this excerpt we can see that
Garcia herself plays a vital role in her own story.
Garcia, in her novel, is in fact the narrator and you could say observer in her own story.
The way in which Garcia chose to write her novel in was from her perspective during her early
and later childhood. This view plays a key role in understanding the main theme of this novel
because it portrays the actions of her brother and their effects on the family in a very personal
view. It allows the reader to see the raw nature of the actual conflict that is constantly fluctuating
throughout this novel. For instance, the brother is constantly going through cycles of sober than
addicted that never seems to end. While this is happening the narrator is also going through her
own cycles of frustration, disparity, anguish, acceptance of her brothers situation. When you
think about this type of delivery it becomes clear that this is the very common cycle that drug
addicts and their families go through whenever there is a relative in the family that is going
through drug addiction.
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Cristina Garcia has done an excellent job on this novel. She has incorporated a variety of
different messages within each poem in her novel and has shown intangible creativity by also
incorporating her familys struggle. Whether your family is going through the same hardships as
Garcias family is going through or not this is still a great book that helps us to analyze ourselves
as well as those around us, especially the ones we really care about. In conclusion this novel is
perfectly designed to make the reader analyze life from the perspective of a worrying sister as
she witnesses her brother suffer from drug addiction and is also a great addition to libraries eve-
rywhere!












Works Cited
Garca, Cristina. The Lesser Tragedy of Death. Los Angeles: Black Goat, 2010. Print.

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