Five years ago, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez made her literally mark when she published her best-selling book, The Dirty Girls Social Club, which earned her the title “The Godmother of Chica Lit” by Time Magazine. Now she’s back with a sequel, Dirty Girls on Top, which continues to follow the lives of the six sucias – Lauren, Usnavys, Rebecca, Amber, Sara and Elizabeth – as they navigate through marriage, kids, careers and boyfriends during their mid-30s.

For a background, the book is about six women, all of Latino heritage, who became instant friends after meeting each other in a journalism class at Boston University. Through their friendship, they formed Buena Sucia Social Club, which meets twice a year after they all graduated. While sucia means dirty and buena means good in English, but “buena sucia” put together it takes on a completely different meaning, hence the title of her first book, The Dirty Girls Social Club.

I know it is easy to view this post as being outside the purview of what this blog is all about. Your probably asking what does Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and chick lit have to do with the inequalities related to the experiences of people of color? A lot.

In The Dirty Girls Social Club, Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez not only addresses issues of racism, homophobia, sexism, and violence against women, but she also covers many issues Latinas face in their own lives, such as racial identity and the difficulty of winning respect from Latinos. Even though this book is about six Latinas, it is also about life as a Latino in general. She masterfully attacks the erroneous assumption that all Latinos are monolithic. She does this by showing the reader the vast diversity within the “Latino community” by explaining some of the different cultural histories found within the Latino community through her characters. A lot of the issues Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez writes in her book, I have covered them more than once on my blog.

So to answer the above question, there is a lot in common between Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and the context of this blog. The only difference is the venues we choose to address the important issues concerning the Latino community. She does it by writing novels, mine is through this blog.

Since her first book, she has written three other novels before her latest book: Playing With Boys in 2004 and Make Him Look Good in 2006 and a Young Adult novel, Haters, in 2006. She has also published three anthologies, Girls Night In in 2004, Girls Night Out in 2006, and Maybe Baby in 2006.

In 2005, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez was named as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in the US by Time Magazine; she was also named Woman of the Year by Latina Magazine; and was twice named top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Business Magazine. In 2006, Ms. Valdes-Rodriguez was awarded with the Latina Leadership award by the Hispanic Congressional Caucus of the United States and has participated in the National Book Festival at the Library of Congress.

I feel as a Latino it is important to highlight the accomplishments of other Latinas/os because they serve as a role model for our future generation. Although I have not met her in person, I do have the pleasure of getting to know her through our ongoing correspondence online. I am proud to call this Latina extraordinaire mi amiga. I am honored she took time out from her busy schedule to answer some questions I forwarded her so I could share with my readers.

I seriously suggest if you haven’t read her first book, The Dirty Girls Social Club, do so. It truly is a great book to read and this is coming from a person who seldom reads fiction or even picked up a chick lit. I can see why her book made it on the New York Times bestseller list.

You can learn more about her on her website or on her blog.

XP: For those who are unaware of your first book, Dirty Girls Social Club, a comedy centered around six Latina friends and their respective careers and relationships, and you now have come up with a sequel to it, Dirty Girls on Top, where did you come up with the idea of your books?

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez: Hard to say, really. I’m a great exaggerator. So I can get a book idea from the smallest, most insignificant detail. Recently, a woman told me a story about how she met her next-door neighbor by waving through their kitchen windows. My mind went nuts with that idea. I came up with an idea for a book about two women who live next door to each other, and meet through the kitchen window – but I added that the new neighbor had unwittingly moved into a haunted house, where the old neighbor’s former best friend lived. She best friend was beaten to death by her cheating husband, but he was never caught. The old neighbor suspects. The new neighbor looks kind of like the dead woman, and now she finds herself being stalked by the murderous husband because, in his crazed guilt, he believes she is the ghost of his wife. That’s how the ideas come. I hear of something, then my brain runs with it.

XP: Where did you come up with the characters of your book? In other words, were they based on acquaintances in your life or were they totally made up?

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez: Both. Like I said earlier, I start with a kernel of truth, and then exaggerate the hell out of it to make it funnier, or more dramatic.

XP: Some have compared your first book to Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale and the television program Sex and the City, do you feel this is a fair assessment?

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez: Yes and no. I understand the media’s need to compare. They like to do everything in shorthand. So it’s easier to make overly simplistic comparisons than it is to, say, actually read my book. I think Latinos get compared to non-Latinos constantly by the media in the United States. It’s a coded way of making sure we never fully “arrive” as members of the society. The only people who get it worse than we do are Asians. I’m sure somewhere out there, a journalist or publisher is looking for the Asian-American Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. When I get to be the Latina Buddy Hackett, though – man, then I’ll know I really made it.

XP: Since the success of your first book, you have named one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in the US by Time Magazine, top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America by Hispanic Magazine and awarded the Latina Leadership Award by the Hispanic Congressional Caucus how are you received in the Latino community?

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez: Uh, which Latino community, dude? There are many. Thousands. Tens of thousands. We’re not a monolithic group. That’s just a myth the marketing people at Univision want the people at Johnson & Johnson to believe. I’ll say this: Among those Latinos who agree with the idea that “Latinos” are a diverse group, I am well-received as the Pope at Sunday mass. Among those who don’t understand what the F I’m talking about when I say things like “people are not predictable by virtue of their perceived belonging to any given invented group,” or “the entire concept of Latinos was invented in the United States,” pues. I guess then you could say I’m received as well as Fidel Castro at a Cuban American National Foundation fund-raiser.

XP: As a Latina writer, do you feel it is harder to get recognized compared to your male and female counterparts?

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez: Is this a trick question? Are Latinas neither male nor female? (Shudder.) But seriously, I think I get what you meant to say. You meant “do you think you’re treated differently than your non-Latina counterparts” in the literary world, right? I can’t really answer that because I don’t know how others are treated. I do know that I get emails from people saying “I’m not Latina, but I read your book.” I think they mean it as a compliment, but I find it insulting. Wrapped up in that sentence is the underlying premise that my work is somehow only going to be relevant to Latinas, and that all others who venture to read me are somehow courageous, or altruistic, or ought to be applauded for the extra effort they’ve made. I wonder if Dean Koontz gets emails that says “I’m not a white man with hair plugs, but I dig your books, man.” I’m not saying he doesn’t. Dean’s got weird fans. Nothing would surprise me. That said, I am writing a series of thrillers/suspense novels under a non-Spanish name, because I am never going to change the racism of certain people – but I do believe I can circumvent it. And why would I want to do that, you ask? The answer is simple. I was not put on the earth to fight racists, though it seems like I end up doing it often enough. I was put on this earth to write entertaining stories about complex characters who overcome enormous odds. I believe myself to be a universal human being, and my ideas to be universal ideas. So the plan, from here on out, is to continue to publish under my own name, but also under this other name, which I’m not going to tell you because it’s much more fun to let you figure it out.

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