Tolog Review: Dreams of Significant Girls

Dreams of Significant Girls
by Christina Garcia
reviewed by Rachel Yacoub

The novel Dreams of Significant Girls, a contemporary fiction by Christina Garcia, is a story that emphasizes the lasting friendships women can form with one another, especially at an age when girls have never ventured outside their “bubble” before. This story tracks the main characters Shirin, a conservative Iranian, Ingrid, a Canadian rule-breaker, and Vivien, an insecure New Yorker on their exhilarating journey to a summer camp in Switzerland and the challenges they have to face, both at home and at the camp. They take fun classes, experience new encounters, and create wonderful memories with each other all while creating an unshakable companionship. 

Instead of following in most writers’ footsteps, Garcia portrays the story through each of the girls’ particular point of view. This writing style helps readers learn more about the characters, how each new experience individually affects them, and the type of assumptions each girl makes. Garcia also uses slang and casual language, adding a modern factor to the story in order to connect with her readers more. 

Dreams of Significant Girls is a great book for adventure and is highly relatable to adolescent girls because the young women in this book start out at the same age as them. Seeing a group of girls slowly create a lasting friendship can help young women realize that everyone has similarities and differences, but that should not hinder friendship building between women.

Just like many people have experienced in their own lives, Garcia makes sure the girls in this book go through very realistic challenges, like puberty and personality changes, while developing their friendships. One of the main challenges is that women rarely form an instant bond, which can teach girls that even though they may not be friends at first, they can always start from a clean slate by looking at the other person’s perspective. Many fairy tales and stories make it seem as if friends are always “meant to be” from the beginning, but this book shows that it can sometimes take a great deal of time and effort to develop a friendship with other people, making it relatable to teenage girls. Despite the many obstacles life threw at these young women, they never truly grew apart or forgot the memories they formed with each other. Modern day girls have to go through similar challenges to the young women in this book and are often left unsure how to face these challenges. They sometimes find themselves closing up to others and breaking friendships instead of resolving them through discussion. This book shows those girls that there are other alternatives when you are doubtful of what to do with your friendships. Garcia shows young women that a bond created between them will never truly break and although they may not live in the same area or go to the same school, the distance does not break them apart, as long as they remain in each other’s hearts. 

Tolog Review: Dreams of Significant Girls

Dreams of Significant Girls
by Christina Garcia
reviewed by Olivia Partamian

Three girls, three summers, one unbreakable bond as told by Christina García in her contemporary fiction, Dreams of Significant Girls.  Garcia’s story follows the lives of Vivien Wahl, Shirin Firouz, and Ingrid Baum, all roommates at a Swiss summer camp.  These three girls could not be more different in terms of heritage, personality, and aspirations, but their experiences force an unshakeable bond over the course of three years.  Vivien, who lives in New York, after fleeing her home country of Cuba, dreams of becoming a chef.  She constantly feels self-conscious about her body, but when she cooks all worries melt away. She loves both of her parents, but finds herself caught up in the middle of their divorce, a position she never thought she would be in.  For this reason, Vivien is sent away to Switzerland for the summer, unsure of the home she will return to.  Shirin Firouz, from a very prominent Iranian family, loves her life full of science, math, and horseback riding. 
However, she does not have many friends and has always been fragile and sickly.  Not to mention, her mother, who loves her very much, discourages Shirin’s love of school work, due to a strong stigma against women with these passions in her country.  In an effort to expose Shirin to friends, and potential husbands, she sends Shirin, against her will, to summer camp.  Ingrid Baum, a rather rebellious Canadian teen cannot escape her home town reputation.  Not only do the people in her small town think she is different, but even her parents suspect something is off.  They consistently question her art, which serves as her emotional outlet.  In fact, the decision to send Ingrid to summer camp is made after her mom finds a portfolio of her abstract works.  All three girls, arrive at boarding school with no intention of enjoying themselves, but soon find common ground in family problems.  They are there for each other as they each experience first heartbreak, failure in their passions, and shocking revelations about their intertwining family histories. Against the backdrop of a picturesque Swiss summer camp, these three girls explore what it means to be a woman in today’s world. The novel follows the girls as their values and dreams change and expand to fit the people they become. The overwhelmingly prominent theme of sisterhood, constantly appears, as the girls’ families fail to show support of their passions. Vivien, Shirin, and Ingrid are the three best friends none of them knew they needed, but once together, were necessary for each to grow as young women.