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carolinareader910's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mryjne's review
5.0
this was the first urban book i read and the first book i read with sex in it...i never looked back lls
iamcaseyrkelley's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I read this book back in my early twenties in 1993 when it was first released. I loved it then. I just reread it again for the Black Booktok Book Club because we wanted to celebrate the 30th anniversary and we all loved it when we read it the first time. I realize now that I probably only liked it because of the limited selections of Black authors and I was hungry for representation in books. Reading it now, I am thoroughly confused how we loved this book and how it became a classic of the culture. I really believe it is because we were just happy to see books that centered Black characters outside of historical fiction and heavy literary fiction. I can’t unsee a twenty something year old man writing about extremely promiscuous middle school and high school girls. It feels so icky. When I read it the first time, I didn’t realize that this was considered Young Adult Fiction. Of course, YA back then wasn’t really the genre it is now. There were very few books that were what we would consider today as YA. It definitely feels like a YA reading it now because of the immaturity of the characters and the adolescent decisions. But at the same time, there’s adult themes - drug abuse, parents in emotional abusive relationships, a lot of sex (at least they used condoms), parents that separated but still have complicated relationships. The book was called Flyy Girl as if it is really about one character, but there were so many random side plots that were unnecessary. The two star rating is generous simply because of nostalgia because it barely deserved one star.
tiara08's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I enjoyed the book overall and can see why it was so popular when I was in school. However, I felt some scenes were too detailed considering how young the girls were. I started skipping them after the second one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Addiction and Domestic abuse
shannanh's review
4.0
An oldie but goodie that I listened to from the library. A coming of age story about a girl named Traci. A very good read.
sweetpeppah's review
2.0
excruciating detail of teenage life & love... i keep wanting to shake the girl just for being young and foolish. i can see how it would capture a particular time & place..but it doesn't have any nostalgia for me so i found it hard to get into. once you're in, though, you really want to see her get through it all!