Memories of Puerto Rico 1985-2005: A Reporter Looks Back

In 1969, when Barbara Tasch Ezratty moved from New York to Puerto Rico, the population of the island was approximately 2 ½ million and things were booming. She was a housewife, raising four children while working in a private school, all the while adjusting to Puerto Rico’s unique lifestyle, a mixture of Spanish and American cultures. By 1985, the island’s population had grown to about 3 ½ million. Ezratty began her newspaper career then, writing about life in Puerto Rico as she and most other sanjuaneros were experiencing it. This book is a collection of some of the articles and columns she wrote for the next 20+ years for three newspapers, one radio station and one magazine. They mirror the vagaries of life during that time and even the 15 years prior; as Tasch Ezratty writes of everything from culture shock when moving in, being a (sometimes) reluctant consumer, dealing with recalcitrant government agencies, the beauty of the island and, as time went on, the joys and trials of being a well-known restaurant reviewer. Life was never boring and if you’ve experienced being there then, this book will take you back to la isla de encanta as you smile and wipe away a tear or two while remembering…