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jachnax's review
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Biphobia
Minor: Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and Acephobia/Arophobia
mel_muses's review against another edition
4.5
”Maybe I don’t know myself with the same certainty I’ve always claimed.”
Ophelia After All follows Ophelia Rojas, a senior in high school, who’s always let herself be defined by the things she does. She’s described as “boy-crazy” and dedicates herself in her spare time to her rose garden, when she’s not at school or hanging out with her friends. But then she gets a crush on a girl in her class, and Ophelia starts doubting who she is… Has she changed? Does she even want to change?
Ophelia After All has taken queer booksta by a chokehold, and I am happy to report that it is very well-deserved. This book is everything I was expecting it to be. It’s coming of age at its finest, it’s a book where our messy protagonist gets in her head and doesn’t always know what the best choice is. It’s a book with bits of Cuban culture, a biracial protagonist, and a lovable group of friends. It’s a book with rose gardening, Shakespeare references, crushes, and even a taste of a love triangle. It’s a book that feels real and has snuck into so many of our hearts.
Ophelia is a character who’s scared of letting people see her how she is. She has this great group of friends — people she’s known for years — but that doesn’t keep her doubts from seeping in. She doesn’t know who she can even share these feelings with, and that’s a feeling I know all too well (albeit for different reasons). Where Ophelia gets crush after crush, I haven’t gotten one. And while at first I felt like this was distancing myself from her, I’ve come to realize that the inner turmoil is similar. We (Ophelia and I) don’t know how to express ourselves when the things we feel are so different than what we expect and what we want for ourselves. It’s this that connected me to Ophelia.
We need more books like this, with a book not centered on a romance, but on coming of age. We often see the two intertwined, which is fun, but also not always accurate. People need to see themselves as who they are before they can let others take a peek. I want more books with characters who don’t do the right thing the first, second, or even third time they express themselves. We need messy friendships, messy feelings, messy love. That’s what makes this book real.
Content Warnings: mentions of underage drinking and vaping, mentions of sex, cut-off use of a homophobic slur (challenged), condemned homophobia, discussion of anti-Blackness within a mixed-race Latine family (challenged)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
michelleub's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It’s a really good really cute coming of age book and you really shouldn’t go into the book thinking it’s a romance book, because sure it might be about it but it’s more about questioning and discovering things about yourself. I love that you can see her growth and they actually do represent a lot of sexualities
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
Moderate: Xenophobia
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