Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Dirt Poor Islanders by Winnie Dunn

2 reviews

mylynn's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny informative 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

2.0

 Dirt Poor Islanders deftly navigates the complexities of being mixed, away from your roots, in a country that doesn’t try to understand or make space for your culture. I really enjoyed many parts of this coming of age story, but I also had some issues with it (detailed on the next 2 slides). 
I really loved how you could feel the Tongan pride throughout this book and I loved learning a little about Tongan mythology and culture. I liked that so much of the Tongan language was included (in full and in Tong-lish). I liked that even though Meadow doesn’t speak Tongan fluently, she understands some and is able to parse it.

The familial relations in this book felt so real to me and Winnie Dunn does a great job at establishing everyone’s distinct personalities and roles. It’s was so interesting to see the clear generational divides between the first generation (Meadow’s grandma), the second generation (her dad and her aunties), and the third generation (Meadow and her siblings and cousins). This felt so real to me, and I can see aspects of it on the CHamoru side of my family. 

Meadow and her family experience covert and overt racism, and these interactions are described in such realistic ways that I’m sure these situations must’ve been experienced outside of fiction. 

 
My first issue with this book is the aggressive inclusion of multiple Harry Potter references (I counted at least 3).
It’s 2024, I am BEGGING authors to stop putting Harry Potter references in their books. As someone who used to be solely defined by my (now extinguished) love for HP, I know it was such a big part of a lot of people lives but it’s time to LET IT GO. 

JKR has been and is still currently being incredibly harmful to the trans community. Not to mention the weird racist things that are actually in HP. (please google these things if you don’t know what I’m talking about)

By including HP references you are:
  • Saying that you care more about nostalgia than trans rights
  • Making people feel unwelcome reading your books
  • Promoting JKR and sending a message to your reader
  • Contributing to people putting more money in JKR’s pockets which she then uses to fund anti-trans legislation and organizations
 
 
My second issue is the constant usage of “Lebanese” instead of “lesbian”. 

I think the author’s choice to replace “lesbian” with the word “Lebanese” multiple times is gross. Meadow does this because she is uncomfortable with the word “lesbian” and eventually she does say the correct word at the end. I get that there is a stigma around being a gay that exists differently in different cultures, but this felt gross and unnecessary to me every time it happened. This “joke” isn’t original or funny, we’ve seen it in media like Golden Girls and Glee already.

Lebanese people exist and don’t deserve to be used as “wordplay” (if we can call it that). 

Lesbian is not a bad word. 

If the author had only done this once for an “effect” (??) I could sort of understand it but it was done SO MANY TIMES. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

grebegirl's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

Some beautifully touching and tender moments. A very raw and immersive. Challenging to read at times but the characters are also funny and endearing 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...