[3] She attended Morton East High School,[2] then the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude.

[9] In The New York Times, Kathleen Rooney praised Sánchez's "wrenching explorations of guilt and shame, grief and misogyny...Her depictions of misery hurt and haunt," particularly through her use of the second person "to draw readers close to difficult subjects.

"[10] In 2017, United States poet laureate Tracy K. Smith recommended Sánchez as among the best new voices in poetry.

The book explores often stigmatized themes of religion, abortion, suicide, and female sexuality within the Latina and first-generation community.

[16]Sánchez expressed these themes in a bilingual form throughout the book to pay homage to how her family speaks.

[19][20] In 2021, it was announced that America Ferrera will direct a film adaptation of the novel for Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures, produced by Sánchez with a script by Linda Yvette Chávez.

[21][22] Sánchez intends to film the movie in Chicago as she believes the story is a "love letter to the city.