“Jazmina Barrera has written an astonishing book, one that illuminates the mysterious, intricate, and eternal nature of female friendship. Through prose that never fails to find the profound in the particular, Barrera’s Cross-Stitch takes readers on a journey through the little private universes people make through relation to one another.”

“The book is full of stitches, of needles that divide the text, forcing us to pause over certain interesting reflections around everything that has surrounded the world of cross-stitching—from its pure creation to patchwork, from the birth of beauty to the reconstruction of it when its radiance has been left behind by the passing of time. Jazmina Barrera manages to weave all of these elements together in a very intelligent way throughout the story. ”

“Punto de cruz is a novel about the sentimental upbringing of Mila, the narrator, which she herself stitches together in first person like cross-stitch threads. Her reflections are as unique as they are universal.”

“This is a coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of a woman about three friends and the memories that resurface when one of them dies. (...) We can all see ourselves in these young girls wanting to devour the world, discovering sexuality, falling in love, falling out of love, the hits that come with adult life, the doubts that come when choosing a college degree or a job.”

“A novel made up of three lives that cross paths like the threads of a cross-stitch, revealing the knowledge of beauty, solidarity, and loss from front and back.”

“Punto de Cruz (Almadía, 2021), the most recent novel by Jazmina Barrera (Mexico City, 1988), is a book that very clearly demonstrates how writing and sewing are so similar. The Mexican author knows it better than anyone—she herself sews and writes, and she writes when she sews and sews when she writes.”

“The confessional tone of the narrator and something about the frayed structure and freshness of the novel give the illusion of of it being a work of nonfiction. It isn’t, but it is believable to the extreme point that it gets mixed up with reality. Citali dies, yes, but the novel keeps her alive, alert, intensely happy.”

“On its own, the story of Mila, Citlali, and Dalia’s friendship would make for an engaging enough read. But what gives it greater depth and meaning is the innovative structure that Barrera employs to tell this story. Interwoven among Mila’s narrative are short, factual, but wildly diverse snippets relating to embroidery. (...) Together these fragments create a picture of an art form that, far from being meekly submissive, is imbued with a uniquely feminine strength, one that underpins the novel. (...) It also shows how their story forms part of a wider narrative of womanhood and identity: one of sexism and oppression, but also of community and defiance.”