Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Finally finished this book. Took me a little over a month to finish it, but it’s finally finished. Phew!! I gave it 3 stars because I thought that the book was just okay. Could have been better.
I found out that the main character, Macy, was Hispanic after I started reading the book. I had no idea that she was Hispanic (or ghetto) after reading the blurb. Perhaps if I had known that beforehand, I would not have read the book as I don’t really like reading books about ghetto characters. It’s mainly the writing with these types of books. Usually, the writing is poor (on purpose, of course) and the characters are constantly cursing and using slang words and whatnot. I’m not crazy about that type of language. That’s the type of language that was used in this book. The language was ghetto. It was urban. I didn’t like it. I’m just not used to it. And I’m not sure I want to get used to it, to be honest.
This book also gets 3 stars because I wasn’t engaged in the story after reading the first few chapters. The main character just didn’t captivate me. The only reason I read the book to the end is that I wanted to give it a chance. I thought it might get better later on in the story. That’s what I usually think about books. It’s what I hope for. I realize that I need to stop reading books once I see that I’m not enjoying them. I really need to do that. lol
Another thing I wanted to say was that I’m not sure teens misspell simple words, like, “bathroom” or “math” in real life. I feel like that’s a thing that maybe younger kids do. I’m just not sure how realistic that is. Because I went to high school with ghetto kids and none of them ever wrote like that. So I thought it was weird when the main character was misspelling simple words in her dictionary.
Oh and about that, I’m not really crazy about the whole dictionary format of the book. This is the first time I’ve ever read a book that was written like it was a dictionary. It’s a little weird for me. Not crazy about it.
And I didn’t like the way Macy’s mom spoke with Macy. I thought they weirdly communicated with each other. Macy’s mom would constantly say “Shut up!” to Macy and they just cursed a lot when speaking to each other. I didn’t like that. It was weird. A little too weird for me.
Other than that, I think that this is a book that should have been written. Simply because nobody writes books like this much. There needs to be more books written about POC who deal with serious issues that people deal with in real life. That’s what I liked about this book. It was about a colored person who faced some real-world issues. We need more books like this to be written. People need to see what everyday people deal with on a daily basis. We need to see how POC handle their problems. Now on that note, anyone who wants to give this book a chance can feel free to. Who knows? Maybe you might enjoy it more than I did.
I found out that the main character, Macy, was Hispanic after I started reading the book. I had no idea that she was Hispanic (or ghetto) after reading the blurb. Perhaps if I had known that beforehand, I would not have read the book as I don’t really like reading books about ghetto characters. It’s mainly the writing with these types of books. Usually, the writing is poor (on purpose, of course) and the characters are constantly cursing and using slang words and whatnot. I’m not crazy about that type of language. That’s the type of language that was used in this book. The language was ghetto. It was urban. I didn’t like it. I’m just not used to it. And I’m not sure I want to get used to it, to be honest.
This book also gets 3 stars because I wasn’t engaged in the story after reading the first few chapters. The main character just didn’t captivate me. The only reason I read the book to the end is that I wanted to give it a chance. I thought it might get better later on in the story. That’s what I usually think about books. It’s what I hope for. I realize that I need to stop reading books once I see that I’m not enjoying them. I really need to do that. lol
Another thing I wanted to say was that I’m not sure teens misspell simple words, like, “bathroom” or “math” in real life. I feel like that’s a thing that maybe younger kids do. I’m just not sure how realistic that is. Because I went to high school with ghetto kids and none of them ever wrote like that. So I thought it was weird when the main character was misspelling simple words in her dictionary.
Oh and about that, I’m not really crazy about the whole dictionary format of the book. This is the first time I’ve ever read a book that was written like it was a dictionary. It’s a little weird for me. Not crazy about it.
And I didn’t like the way Macy’s mom spoke with Macy. I thought they weirdly communicated with each other. Macy’s mom would constantly say “Shut up!” to Macy and they just cursed a lot when speaking to each other. I didn’t like that. It was weird. A little too weird for me.
Other than that, I think that this is a book that should have been written. Simply because nobody writes books like this much. There needs to be more books written about POC who deal with serious issues that people deal with in real life. That’s what I liked about this book. It was about a colored person who faced some real-world issues. We need more books like this to be written. People need to see what everyday people deal with on a daily basis. We need to see how POC handle their problems. Now on that note, anyone who wants to give this book a chance can feel free to. Who knows? Maybe you might enjoy it more than I did.
A gut punch of the highest caliber. This was so unsettling and difficult to read. When things seem to start to turn around for Macy they just get worse. The book is brilliantly written, but damn does this pull back the rock to reveal the ugliness of humanity.
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the structure of the book, but it very quickly felt right, that this was the best way for Macy to tell her story. Macy is a strong character (or maybe I mean "memorable" more than "strong"?) dealing with the problems in her life the best she can - the drugs, her mother, her brother's needs, her BFFs, school, being disregarded and diminished at school, and her father's incarceration. There were times when the situation felt stereotypical, but the voice always felt authentic and as though there were no other way to tell this life.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
Almost anything terrible that can happen will happen (even if offscreen) in this book. Kidnapping? Prostitution? Dead babies? Foster care? Shootings? Parlorless piercings? Sexual Assault? Starvation?
AND MORE. A little overdramatic, but great for fans of truuuuue diary fiction like Go Ask Alice.
AND MORE. A little overdramatic, but great for fans of truuuuue diary fiction like Go Ask Alice.
Holy cow. This was intense, but not in that bleak, maudlin way a lot of YA is intense? I cannot say I have read anything like this.
Protagonist Macy Cashmere MYOFB (how she writes her last name in her dictionary entries) is legitimately disturbed. Her mom is a selfish pothead with a series of "guests," her dad is in prison, and her brother has been claimed by child protective services. She's got two friends, George who also performs disturbedness, and the other, Alma, who is an achiever, taking care of half a dozen siblings and slamming the AP track in high school.
I haven't read as raw and street poetic a book as this in a long while. It might be my favorite YA of the year, even edging out The Hate U Give.
Macy grabs me right away, with this dedication:
She is living a life where parents don't care for her, and the system has let her down, but she is still say "I'm worthwhile. I'm looking out for me."
She may not be thriving in school, but she's clearly a critical thinker.
I reach into my desk. Take out History of the American People Volume 1 and clean house. Cross out all the pages about shit that's got nothing to do with me. What's left? Not much.
When confronted about her edits, she responds
"Vandalism? I'm not vandalizing any more than you. I'm just deciding which words count and which ones don't. Which words mean something and which don't. That's exactly what you do."
Soon after, she throws her desk. I moved mine into the closet when I was in school. I like Macy's method better.
Chapters are entries in Macy's dictionary. The entry for Apple begins with a definition
Noun. A apple a day keeps the doctor away. So does not having no insurance to pay him with.
Writing during lunch she goes on
If Adam offered Eve the apples from my cafeteria, she'd a been like yeah, no, thems nasty.
I just think that's so funny and real, but it's worrisome that Macy is always hungry and eats crumbs from the couch, and when her mom does bring home food it's junk like McDonald's and Doritos.
Macy is often painfully profound, like how she ends the chapter call Am with "Alma knows who I be. It's more than who I am." Or this head scratcher, "I can't even imagine tomorrow. Tomorrow is for people like Alma. I'm still somewhere between today and yesterday."
The entry for Disturbed is introduced like this
Adjective. Someone. Me.
And ends
Fuck you for sitting there. Fuck anyone for sitting anywhere. Fuck you for reading this. Don't you have better things to do?
That's real to me. It's how I felt for much of my depressed childhood as I hid myself in reading and inventing my own worlds.
I bookmarked another dozen passages, but I'll leave them for you to discover. You will love NoNieqa Ramos's writing. Her bio says she "spent her childhood on the Bronx, where she started her own publishing company and sold books for twenty-five cents until the nuns shut her down." I'm glad the nuns lost their grip on her!
I picked up this book because I wanted to read something outside of my normal genres and I was intrigued by a book written in the format of a dictionary. I appreciate that this could be a good insight into the life of a troubled girl with a very difficult life, but I could not get into it. I can see it making its way onto the reading list for Teen Literature classes in MLIS programs.
I received an ARC from NetGalley. It will be published on February 1, 2018.
I received an ARC from NetGalley. It will be published on February 1, 2018.
When people talk "voice" this is what they are talking about. I loved reading Macy's dictionary, her asides to the reader, and her honest reflection of her life.
Macy's life is tough and because I cared about Macy, it made it very hard to keep reading this book. In fact, I read two other books while on break from this one. Macy regularly encounters relentless poverty, neglect, discrimination, prostitution, family incarceration, a sibling absent due to removal by Child Protective Services and a sub-par schooling experience, with the exception of one teacher.
This book is worth reading, so I suggest you press on through any discomfort you might feel. And when you finish reading you might have to convince someone else to read this too, because you'll want to discuss the ending.
Macy's life is tough and because I cared about Macy, it made it very hard to keep reading this book. In fact, I read two other books while on break from this one. Macy regularly encounters relentless poverty, neglect, discrimination, prostitution, family incarceration, a sibling absent due to removal by Child Protective Services and a sub-par schooling experience, with the exception of one teacher.
This book is worth reading, so I suggest you press on through any discomfort you might feel. And when you finish reading you might have to convince someone else to read this too, because you'll want to discuss the ending.
This is the kind of book that breaks your hear the whole time you read it, but you keep reading it because you either are hoping for things to get better or you want to see how bad they can get. In Macy's case it is the latter, but what was truly interesting was the downfall of so many other characters as well. Really, the characterization in this book, from Macy's unreliable narrator status, to the appearance and reappearance of Velvet, to the horrible revolving door of Mr. Guests (many characters, one name), your heart cannot help bu go out to them and hope for something better. However, what Ramos proves is that sometimes a story can have a hero and still not have a happy ending.
This very voice-driven novel follows Macy as she navigates her own tumultuous home life -- one with an inconsistent mother, a father in prison, and a younger brother in the foster care system because of repeat CPS visits -- with understanding why it is her best friend has been pulling away from her. Her best friend, as it turns out, has been battling her own home life demons, too. Which is really the overarching exploration here: these are teens living hard, hard lives and still managing to get up every day and go through the motions, much as it leaves an impact on them physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
Macy is, as the title suggests, struggling with mental illness as well, likely brought on by her own life experiences. The actions she takes are raw and terrible to read, but they're vulnerable and done because of desperation.
The book is set up as Macy's diary, written like a dictionary to her life. The style works wonderfully for letting Macy's voice come out as it's meant to. The language here is not polished nor perfect, but it's Macy expressing herself as Macy needs to express herself.
This book would be great for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, particularly MONDAY'S NOT COMING. This is about girls of color, about pain, and about how that pain they experience is so often ignored or overlooked.
Macy's lucky, though -- she's got some great people in her corner, even when she feels like she doesn't. By at the end, she knows she does.
Macy is, as the title suggests, struggling with mental illness as well, likely brought on by her own life experiences. The actions she takes are raw and terrible to read, but they're vulnerable and done because of desperation.
The book is set up as Macy's diary, written like a dictionary to her life. The style works wonderfully for letting Macy's voice come out as it's meant to. The language here is not polished nor perfect, but it's Macy expressing herself as Macy needs to express herself.
This book would be great for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, particularly MONDAY'S NOT COMING. This is about girls of color, about pain, and about how that pain they experience is so often ignored or overlooked.
Macy's lucky, though -- she's got some great people in her corner, even when she feels like she doesn't. By at the end, she knows she does.