Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Merci’s grandfather, Lolo, is Merci’s confidante and the family member to whom she is the closest. Lolo has a way of affirming and listening to Merci that doesn’t make her feel condescended to, as he understands and embraces Merci’s strength and intelligence while simultaneously providing parental security and safety. Through this depiction, Medina is asserting that good parenting to tweens requires an adult to employ a mixture of both sensitivity and guidance as well as respect for and the cultivation of the tween’s personal freedom and autonomy. This combination of caregiving factors is what makes Merci feel so safe in her relationship with Lolo.

Medina also uses Lolo’s character to explore the realities of Alzheimer’s disease. Small incidents depicting Lolo’s disorientation and memory loss pepper the narrative, eventually coming to a climax when the accident caused by Lolo’s disorientation forces Roli to finally tell Merci the truth about Lolo’s disease. Through this, Medina forms a realistic depiction of the anguish and confusion that Alzheimer’s brings both to the person who has the disease and to those who love them. Lolo’s choice to keep Merci in the dark is a human one: understandable and worthy of compassion but also an unjust mistake that insults Merci’s intelligence and betrays her. 

In many ways, Roli foils Merci. He is older and therefore afforded more freedom by the family, and it often seems that his college applications and genius afford him special privileges that Merci does not receive. His by-the-book, scientific, and staid attitude contrasts with Merci’s more freewheeling emotionality. Although Roli and Merci often find themselves at odds, they are bound to each other through a great and abiding love. Through their relationship, Medina parses the complexity, intimacy, and rewards of the sibling relationship. 

Abuela is the backbone of the Suárez family. Her expertise with sewing meets the family’s practical needs, but it also injects a dose of maternal warmth and artistry into the family life, as evidenced by Abuela’s joyous and painstaking construction of all the children’s Halloween costumes. Abuela’s exaggerated worries and anxieties annoy all of the family members, but they are also lovingly accepted as an expression of her love and care. The emotional and caregiving labor that Abuela provides is a wellspring of the family’s emotional well-being upon which they rely, and even Merci, as a child, is acutely aware of the strength and energy that Abuela expends every day to care for her family.