‘Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed’ Review: Dismantling the Latinx Spectrum

In the Spanish language, there’s a duality to the word for “tongue”: “la lengua” translates to both the physical body part, but also to “language.” Edited by Saraciea J. Fennell, “Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed” explores the dual importance of the “tongue” — both the powerful voice it produces and the language that it chooses to speak. A collection of 15 short stories from renowned Latinx authors, this piece effortlessly educates and reminds readers of the incredible diversity of Latinx-Americans, and that ethnicity has no spectrum.

One of the most prominent and interesting features of the anthology is the relationship between each Latinx identity and Spanish fluency — or lack thereof. Most of the authors describe the diaspora of their ancestors, resulting in English fluency as a means to find work and survive in America. Because of the shedding of “la lengua” of their ancestors, the authors recount the microaggressions of their life when people questioned if they were Latinx enough. Culminating in one of the most powerful parts of the collection, Zakiya N. Jamal’s story, “Cuban Imposter Syndrome”, confronts that upsetting question. Growing up in Long Island, Jamal writes how her Afro-Cuban identity cast doubt on her Latinx-ness. She terms this self-dissociation as her “Cuban Imposter Syndrome,” the feeling that she “didn’t fit the mold of what a Cuban should be” by not having Spanish fluency or the quinceañera milestone. In a beautifully simple way, she confronts the falsehood that she falls low on America’s constructed spectrum of Latinx identity: “Whenever I or anyone else makes me feel like a fraud, I remember that it is not my skin tone, my fluency in Spanish, or my name that makes me Cuban. I am Cuban because my mother is, my grandma is, and her mother was.”

Admittedly, there are moments when the 15 different short stories feel very disconnected. The anthology begins with Mark Oshiro explaining his childhood as a Mexican-American orphan, piecing together his identity through eating unseasoned tacos in his hometown of Idaho and getting dressed for elementary school, never forgetting to wear his label of “pocho” — a derogatory term that refers to a Mexican who cannot speak Spanish. As a college student, Lilliam Rivera brings us into her mental health struggles in a Latinx family that uses the Catholic religion as the only means of therapy. Ingrid Rojas Contreras confronts her failed interracial marriage with a man and family that claims to “not see color.” Aside from the plot, the stories widely vary in structure and gravity, as some stories uncover darker childhood microaggressions and mental health struggles. The progression of the stories seems confusing and readers might ask how these mismatched stories blend together.

They don’t. And it’s now clear that this aspect is the most beautiful part of this collection of voices.

Since kindergarten, we’re taught what to expect from a story: a beginning that sets the scene with an inciting conflict, a middle sprinkled with obstacles, and the classic happily-ever-after ending. And so reading the stories of “Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed” together might initially feel disorienting as the authors whirl through different ages, classes, genders, races, and sense of place. The authors and their stories are different in seemingly every way, though when delicately bound together, these voices — las lenguas — are sewn like patchwork into a universal truth that all Latinx individuals share. Kirkland Vaughans, a clinical psychologist famous for writing about the importance of recognizing and celebrating different races, perfectly explains this truth: “Yes, we’re all the same – in the sense that we’re all different.”

It’s only right that a book uncovering Latinx identity comes in the form of multiple authors, representing the beautiful diaspora of color, language, race, gender, and identity that contributes to the mosaic of America’s Latinx community. After finishing this book, readers — whether or not they are members of the Latinx community — will have a deeper appreciation for Latinx culture, food, and, of course, people.