Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

9 reviews

carlyoc's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

Inspired by the true event of a passenger plane travelling between New York City and the Dominican Republic that crash landed in 2001, killing everyone on board.
This book is told in verse from two fictional point of view characters, a teenage girl in DR and one in New York who both lost a father on that flight. Although Camino and Yahaira have had very different upbringings in different countries, their grief brings them together and they soon realize they have even more in common. 
Not my usual genre and definitely emotional, but glad I read it. I had no idea about this second-most deadly plane crash in American history that occurred just a few months after 9/11. And that is part of Acevedo's reason for writing about it. The event rocked the worlds of the Dominican community but hardly made a dent in the mainstream news cycle after initial concerns that it was another terrorist attack were debunked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Stalking, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault

Features attempted sexual assault that is stopped in time and traumatic groping on public transit.

achedester's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Stalking, Death of parent, and Violence

kitty_may12's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

A beautifully written and unique tale of the intricacies of sisterhood. Told in verse, it’s poetic nature is profound and deeply moving. A rarity that I enjoyed from start to finish! and I can’t recommend it enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Grief, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Sexism, and Xenophobia

tinyjude's review

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Inspired by true events, the story follows two sisters who live completely different lives and dont know of each other's existence until the death of their mutual father. It is a book about grief, anger, resentment, love, fear and dreams that deals with heavy topics. It also highlights the difference between the living conditions and prospects of both sisters (the privilege of one, the poverty of the other, the struggles of both, their vulnerability when it comes to disgusting men, but also their strength and need for each other).

It was beautiful. I was surprised by the way it was presented (in verse) and I loved every second of Camino explaining and being proud of their traditions, her Tía, etc 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Stalking

Moderate: Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Classism, Trafficking, and Infidelity

jojo_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Trafficking

foreverinastory's review against another edition

emotional slow-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

This was so good.

Rep: Dominican-American lesbian female MC, Dominican female MC, BIPOC sapphic female side character, Dominican and Dominican-American side characters.

CWs: Death of parent, sexual assault, grief, death, stalking, infidelity, sexual violence, sexual harassment, pregnancy & birth on page, sexism, violence, parental abandonment, plane crash (not on page but discussed), misogyny, racism, xenophobia. Moderate: medical content, cancer, cursing, pedophilia, rape, panic attack. Minor: Drug use, trafficking, vomit, police brutality, blood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Stalking, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Cursing, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Drug use, Police brutality, Vomit, Trafficking, and Blood

lucystolethesky'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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Stalking

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

plumpaperbacks's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is the second book I’ve read by Acevedo, and I’ll happily repeat countless others when I say that she’s an extremely talented writer. I also partially listened to the audiobook, and Acevedo is one of two narrators; I love listening to her narrate her work.

I think I like this one even more than The Poet X. Admittedly, for the first hundred pages or so, I struggled to differentiate between Camino and Yahaira and get invested in their story. But despite my rocky start, I ended up quite invested in both girls and the way their stories intertwined. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like Clap When You Land, in that regard—one that writes sibling relationships in such a unique way, examines family secrets and love and how loss can lead to gain in unexpected ways.

Only when I started reading did I realize that Acevedo based this story off of a real tragedy, the AA587 plane crash in November 2001. That realization intensified the emotions within the pages, even though the novel is in verse. Sometimes such a method means detachment from what you’re reading, but not here. Yet another one of the author’s talents, honestly.

I’m tired (as I write this, it’s 2 a.m.) and I’m not sure how much sense I make, but I did quite enjoy this book. It wasn’t a favorite, but I’d recommend it regardless. I look forward to reading more from Elizabeth Acevedo, hopefully soon.

Representation

• Afro-Dominican protagonist
• Latinx protagonist
• established sapphic romance
• side characters of color

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Sexism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Drug use, Racism, Blood, Medical content, and Trafficking

snowhitereads's review

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 

This year I’m finishing my reading adventure with a bang!

These last few books are killing me! And I love it!

Clap When You Land is a story about grief, humanity, strength, and growth.

The characters’ development was impeccable. Each one had their own personal struggles, aspirations and ideals but everyone was faced with betrayal by a man that they admired, adored, and loved.

One of my favorite aspects about this book is that one character identifies as queer and while she and her girlfriend are an integral part of the story, their queerness is simply a part of the larger story rather than the story itself, and I found that so refreshing. Being queer is more than your coming out story.

Another thing I would like to point out it’s the importance of the author’s note. Seriously, read it! The amount of research that Acevedo put into this tragic event and her ability to respectfully portray it in this book was amazing.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Rape, Infidelity, Trafficking, Medical content, and Emotional abuse