Santiago, Esmeralda. The Turkish lover, A Memoir.

SANTIAGO, Esmeralda. The Turkish lover, a memoir. Perseus, Da Capo. 347p. c2004. 0-306-81451-X. $14.95. SA

This is the third part of Santiago's memoirs, the others being When I Was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman, which are well known. This begins when Esmeralda was 21 years old and she left her mother and ten siblings to run off with an older man, her Turkish lover. The story ends when she graduated from Harvard some years later and finally was able to end that frequently claustrophobic relationship.

Ulvi, her Turkish lover, became a graduate student and he needed Esmeralda's skill as an editor and researcher to help him get his work done. They lived in Texas for a while, and then moved to Syracuse, NY, as he pursued his Ph.D. She knew she was being used and she tried at times to escape, but in his own way he was loving, so she was confused by the whole experience. This memoir, written decades later, obviously helps to put the relationship in a context she can understand. She sees Ulvi was the catalyst to help her break away from her clutching family, that he encouraged her intellectual life, and that he finally was able to let her go when she was truly independent.

Again, no one has explained the Puerto Rican immigrant experience as well as Santiago has done for her readers, and this third book continues that exploration. All those who have been confined in a relationship in which one person is controlling will understand a great deal about that dynamic by reading this book. Claire Rosser, KLIATT