In this memoir, Esmeralda Santiago, the acclaimed author of “When I Was Puerto Rican,” continues the riveting chronicle of her emergence from the barrios of Brooklyn to the theaters of Manhattan. “Negi,” as Santiago’s family affectionately calls her, leaves rural Macun in 1961 for a three-room tenement apartment with her seven young siblings, an inquisitive grandmother, and a strict mother who won’t allow her to date. At thirteen, she yearns for her own bed, privacy, and a life with her father, who remains in Puerto Rico. She yearns to find balance between being American and being Puerto Rican. When Negi defies her mother by going on a series of hilarious dates, she finds that independence brings its own set of challenges.