Reviews

Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky

breezyjean's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-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

4.0

krakow54's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

3.25

dogzilla's review

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

3.75

kellylkennedy's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

mhowell19's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

Sasha Masha is a simple queer coming of age novel, but its simplicity does nothing to diminish its profound beauty and light. This book is something I can only hope every queer or questioning child has the option to read. Sometimes we just need a little bit of light from someone else to figure ourselves out. 

thebookishunicorn's review

CW: Use of the word f****t three times, not directed at anyone in malice but is still used

yuvashreep's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I enjoyed reading this book, especially the parts in the first half of the book where SM was dealing with an identity crisis. Later this identity crisis delved deeper into the gender identity crisis that SM was going through. While that was not relatable, it was very insightful. It was a great read for me.

aresoracle's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

jmbz38's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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

2.5

caoidh's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

This short novel is about the protagonist's 'trans realisation' moment - that messy time when a trans person is realising they are trans. It's not a fast paced story, and it doesn't really get to the 'coming out' moment, but it's one of the first times I've read a story about this type of trans experience - most trans protagonists are either coming out or already out - so it was a nice change of pace. 

On a completely unrelated note, I struggled with the name 'Sasha Masha', as I'm Australian and we tend to pronounce 'Masha' the same way as 'masher' (as in, something that mashes things, like a potato masher). So every time I read the name, I was hearing 'Sasha Masher' in my head, which made me picture a pro wrestler or super hero / super villain, which was rather distracting. It's one of those cases where names don't translate very well across different language contexts.