Reviews - Hot Girls with Balls

159 reviews for:

Hot Girls with Balls

Benedict Nguyễn

3.53 AVERAGE

carrieabuente's review against another edition

3.5

The writing style on this one was a little hard to get into. Be prepared for the fact that it's really slow paced, but it gets a lot more interesting towards the end.

rootsinlibrary's review against another edition

3.25

emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ambermarie's review against another edition

3.5

funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The writing style was a little confusing at times, but undeniably engaging. The Challengers vibes were delivered as promised. I do wish justice had been served and reached a little more closure, but alas I do suppose that would somewhat defeat the purpose. The ending was satisfying though, and rather sweet, which was nice because I was worried it would end on a more ambiguous note

rkjreads's review against another edition

4.25

This book was a lot of fun! Deeply examines the dehumanisation of having a public persona, especially when you are trans. The attacks you get both from transphobes as well as those within the trans community. It also critiques the girl-boss influencer/activist in a really sharp way.

I’ve read a few internet books but haven’t seen one like this with the live-stream-of-consciousness. I really liked it, though I would have maybe preferred the addition of usernames to make this section a bit clearer.

The relationship at the center is fascinating and almost took a turn towards horror as their relationship as a product superseded their relationship as human beings. Green’s desperation for popularity and internal competition with six, along with the fact she has slightly less charisma than her, idk it just really worked for me.

I did struggle to differentiate some of the male characters! But overall I thought it was really strong and I enjoyed it a lot.

emmyjoyevans's review against another edition

1.0

funny slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Horrible. Confusing and annoying.

victoriarosalesvt's review against another edition

3.0

inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

melsuke's review against another edition

2.5

funny tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

sarahfa's review against another edition

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

I grew up with men’s sports being a huge part of my everyday culture. I am from Texas, so of course football (high school, college, and pro) was deeply embedded in the culture, as well as basketball and baseball. My grandfather attended college on a basketball scholarship and later helped start and coach his college’s first women’s basketball team. Many people have described the social, political, and economical ways sports are representative of and deeply valued in American culture. Some of which can be described by that tweet that says “Sorry I said football was diet war.” Hahahhahah

Anyway, I say that to say I find the ways people watch and understand sports interesting, especially as I became an adult and used the new concepts I learned (queerness, feminism, racism, classism, etc) to analyze all aspects of my life and the world. I honestly still like men’s sports and care about them as an adult. (Of course, women’s too.) But it is nice to be able to recognize the ways in which they perpetuate gender roles and nationalism.

This story was about trans women who played in a pro men’s volleyball team. It is not totally set in our world, and in their world, the pro volleyball world tolerated (depending on the person) them in that world more so than I think they would in our world.

They played in the men’s league for multiple reasons, including that they obviously make more money and have more brand deals there compared to the women’s league, and that trying to play in any women’s sports as a trans women/girl right now in our world is a hellish nightmare. (Let them play!!!!!!)

In the story, the commentators never wrongly gendered them. It made me hopeful that men’s sports could one day be more welcoming to feminine men (obviously queer men and trans women, too, but baby steps 🙃). Like if someone on the Astros (example men’s pro sports team) came out as queer or trans tomorrow, it would feel unprecedented. It would be awesome, but they would receive so much homophobia.

The descriptions of how the public talked about Six and Green felt very realistic. So much tearing them down, and I felt like I was reading comments I’ve seen on so many public queer instagrams/twitters. Also, the way the sports league saw Six and Green as wonderful marketing tools to make more money felt vividly real.

It was frustrating that Henry didn’t get punished, but at least he was discouraged and saw he wasn’t going to become more popular than Six and Green. I was trying to guess who @transaretrans was, but I didn’t suspect Henry.

I am curious what other people thought! I really like stories exploring gender roles and transphobia and fandom and capitalism in sports.

Content Warnings