Crying in the Bathroom

A Memoir

By: Erika L. Sánchez

Narrated by: Erika L. Sánchez

“Equal parts pee-your-pants hilarity and break your heart poignancy—like the perfect brunch date you never want to end!"—America Ferrera, Emmy award-winning actress in Ugly Betty

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is as deeply moving as it is disarmingly funny

Growing up as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Chicago in the ‘90s, Erika L. Sánchez was a self-described pariah, misfit, and disappointment—a foul-mouthed, melancholic rabble-rouser who painted her nails black but also loved comedy and dreamed of an unlikely life as a poet. Twenty-five years later, she’s now an award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, but she’s still got an irrepressible laugh, an acerbic wit, and singular powers of perception about the world around her.

In these essays about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression to the redemptive pursuits of spirituality, art, and travel, Sánchez reveals an interior life that is rich with ideas, self-awareness, and perception—that of a woman who charted a path entirely of her own making. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest, Crying in the Bathroom is Sánchez at her best: a book that will make you feel that post-confessional high that comes from talking for hours with your best friend.

©2022 Erika Sánchez (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Best of BookRiot • Best of San Francisco Chronicle • Best of WGN • Best of NBC News • Best of HipLatina

CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS AWARD WINNER 2022

“Sánchez is a raw, unapologetic, and acerbic writer, who leans into difficult topics [like] abortion… [her] writing evokes vivid images. It’s also humorous, contemplative and so conversational that it feels like she’s telling the story of her life over a cup of coffee.”—The Washington Post

"Raunchy and original and authentic and hilarious and heartbreaking."—Harlan Coben, on NBC's Today Show

"Quippy, earnest... these plainly told personal truths are as absorbing as a deep and wide-ranging conversation with a trusted friend... [Crying in the Bathroom] proves that delicacy and strength are no opposites. It is easy to imagine a vulnerable reader gobbling up Sánchez’ honesty and her reassurances that sorrow does not preclude pleasure."—The New York Times Book Review

What a life

So honest, sometimes painful, but full of hope. I don’t want to be that white racist.

Loved it!

By far one of my favorite books ever!!! Recommending this book to my patients, friends and family!!! Thank you Erika for all the laughs and tears :)

An incredible book

Love how raw and honest she was. This one hit me hard. It is wonderful to find stories from people you can identify with.

Crying

I’ve never read anything that describes crying so well in our community. I admired how gut wrenching and honest Sanchez is. It must have been scary to write. I especially loved the last paragraph - “all I ever wanted was to feel alive…” It’s a must read if you know anyone who cry’s a lot and you don’t know why.

The raw truth

This book tells so many truths from the cultural norms we are born into as women of color and what we must endure, to the experience in a psychiatric ward and ECT. This book will make you cry and laugh with the author’s quick wit and use of Spanglish . Excellent book . A must read .

The best book I’ve ever read

As a minority, this is the best book I’ve ever listened to and so necessary.

Relatable as a Brown woman in America

Although my parents were not immigrants, there were a few moments that hit home to me, memories as a child and resonated as an adult. A good reminder that I am not alone in these feelings of a brown woman in America.

A text that hugs

Raw, vulnerable, necessary. Sánchez’s voice is able to reach into the deepest parts of my heart and mind to remind me I am not alone in my mental health struggles, or the journey of taking up space as a woman in society. Thank you.

Audible

Liked the references to the Mexican culture. Dislike the voice and pronunciation of the audible reader…too many mispronunciations and very monotone.

Power to LATINAS!

I wish this book was written when I was a teenager. It would have helped me understand why I am the way that I am.