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ilana_banana's review
adventurous
slow-paced
2.5
thanks to netgalley and Harper Voyager for the e-arc
This review might contain spoilers
2.5*
TW: homophobia, racism, xenophobia, sexual harassment, sexism, police brutality, religious bigotry.
i did not have fun reading thisđź’€.
I'll start with the positive things I have to say about it. I am also Mexican, so I appreciated being able to see Rose/Luna and her family, although I would have liked to see a little more of their dynamic. The prose is great and really atmospheric.
This book is about racism and sexism and how this has affected the main character and those around her while trying to make a living and be successful. Its a story that follows minorities and identities in a difficult time period and difficult circumstances. The magic is interesting and complex, so that was fine too.
Now, my main problem with this book was the characters. I'm sorry, but I didn't love the main character. I like what she represents and the general idea of ​​her, but as a character I just don't. I'm not going to deny that she's a strong and powerful character, but I still feel pretty indifferent about her otherwise,She barely does anything, all the problems and conflicts are conveniently solved by other people, which later creates another conflict and then again is solved by someone else and it's just a vicious circle that gets boring after a few times, it's incredibly convenient for the plot. and except for a few occasions this is a recurring theme. It's a 400 page book and in my opinion we barely get to know the characters, there's not enough backstory to care about them. The relationships that are formed are incredibly rushed and happen in a short amount of time, these relationships expand and grow throughout the book, but the beginning felt really rushed.
There are a lot of colloquialisms from the 1920s and the way the dialogues are written makes it sometimes difficult to read if you don't already know them.
I didn't want to spend a lot of time talking about this because I don't think that's the main focus of the book, as it's mostly about marginalized communities like Latinx and Black, but this also includes the LGBTQ+ community and it’s important for me to talk about it. There are some queer characters that are really important to the story, I'm going to talk about one in particular right now. I'm not going to say his name because that’s a spoiler, although it's pretty clear from the start. He was just the stereotypical gay best friend for most of this book, we don't get much context or history about his character and that makes it seem like he's just there for the main character's sake. There is a scene near the end of the book where he has some interaction with Rose (trying to be vague here) but I can't tell you how humiliating and awful reading this was for me, it didn't need to be included. After this situation happens, it is immediately forgiven and forgotten within the next chapter, I didn't like the way the main character responded to what happened. We know the historical context of being an LGBTQ+ person and the nuances and difficulties about it even more so in the 1920s, this character is dealing with internalized homophobia from the very beginning. There are also several instances of making the main character seem superior just by “understanding” these characters, while the queer characters deal with this internalized homophobia and trauma and get no more help than her saying it's okay you’re like this. People usually do this when it does not affect them, showing acceptance is the bare minimum. Again, this is the 1920s so acceptance is already a big thing but if you’re writing progressive and supportive characters I feel like should have been talked about more about this issues and others. Despite the fact that the ending for them is happy as far as it goes, I think that many layers were missing in the exploration not only of these characters, but of the others as well.
As I mentioned, the book's prose is great, although I found the story and character construction to be lacking. It went on forever and there weren't enough good characters to make me want to keep reading.
There’s also a very minor and silly thing that bothered me and that was the fact that the book gives off strong millennial vibes, like the character interactions and stuff. Not really a problem but this is a historical fiction book and it took me out of the story,
Again, maybe not a bad book, it wasn't for me and I didn't really enjoy my time reading it, it was very hard for me to read it because of the negative emotions it caused me.
This review might contain spoilers
2.5*
TW: homophobia, racism, xenophobia, sexual harassment, sexism, police brutality, religious bigotry.
i did not have fun reading thisđź’€.
I'll start with the positive things I have to say about it. I am also Mexican, so I appreciated being able to see Rose/Luna and her family, although I would have liked to see a little more of their dynamic. The prose is great and really atmospheric.
This book is about racism and sexism and how this has affected the main character and those around her while trying to make a living and be successful. Its a story that follows minorities and identities in a difficult time period and difficult circumstances. The magic is interesting and complex, so that was fine too.
Now, my main problem with this book was the characters. I'm sorry, but I didn't love the main character. I like what she represents and the general idea of ​​her, but as a character I just don't. I'm not going to deny that she's a strong and powerful character, but I still feel pretty indifferent about her otherwise,She barely does anything, all the problems and conflicts are conveniently solved by other people, which later creates another conflict and then again is solved by someone else and it's just a vicious circle that gets boring after a few times, it's incredibly convenient for the plot. and except for a few occasions this is a recurring theme. It's a 400 page book and in my opinion we barely get to know the characters, there's not enough backstory to care about them. The relationships that are formed are incredibly rushed and happen in a short amount of time, these relationships expand and grow throughout the book, but the beginning felt really rushed.
There are a lot of colloquialisms from the 1920s and the way the dialogues are written makes it sometimes difficult to read if you don't already know them.
I didn't want to spend a lot of time talking about this because I don't think that's the main focus of the book, as it's mostly about marginalized communities like Latinx and Black, but this also includes the LGBTQ+ community and it’s important for me to talk about it. There are some queer characters that are really important to the story, I'm going to talk about one in particular right now. I'm not going to say his name because that’s a spoiler, although it's pretty clear from the start. He was just the stereotypical gay best friend for most of this book, we don't get much context or history about his character and that makes it seem like he's just there for the main character's sake. There is a scene near the end of the book where he has some interaction with Rose (trying to be vague here) but I can't tell you how humiliating and awful reading this was for me, it didn't need to be included. After this situation happens, it is immediately forgiven and forgotten within the next chapter, I didn't like the way the main character responded to what happened. We know the historical context of being an LGBTQ+ person and the nuances and difficulties about it even more so in the 1920s, this character is dealing with internalized homophobia from the very beginning. There are also several instances of making the main character seem superior just by “understanding” these characters, while the queer characters deal with this internalized homophobia and trauma and get no more help than her saying it's okay you’re like this. People usually do this when it does not affect them, showing acceptance is the bare minimum. Again, this is the 1920s so acceptance is already a big thing but if you’re writing progressive and supportive characters I feel like should have been talked about more about this issues and others. Despite the fact that the ending for them is happy as far as it goes, I think that many layers were missing in the exploration not only of these characters, but of the others as well.
As I mentioned, the book's prose is great, although I found the story and character construction to be lacking. It went on forever and there weren't enough good characters to make me want to keep reading.
There’s also a very minor and silly thing that bothered me and that was the fact that the book gives off strong millennial vibes, like the character interactions and stuff. Not really a problem but this is a historical fiction book and it took me out of the story,
Again, maybe not a bad book, it wasn't for me and I didn't really enjoy my time reading it, it was very hard for me to read it because of the negative emotions it caused me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Classism
Minor: Police brutality and Fire/Fire injury
mjwhitlock18's review
emotional
slow-paced
3.5
Historical magical realism inspired by Mexican folklore, set in Kansas City during prohibition. A female bootlegger hiding her magical abilities, her heritage, (and usually her feelings) dreams of owning a jazz club, but has to contend with sexism, bigotry, and local gangsters while protecting her family and growing her business.
This book starts off slow and has some extraneous parts that lend to that feeling; I had a hard time getting truly immersed and entranced with the story. But it is easy to like and root for these characters. It portrays the experience of children of immigrants and I appreciate the queer representation as well. I like that we get to follow Luna’s journey of coming into her magic as well as her identity overall. I like the character of Heck Kessler, even if he fits stereotypes in a few areas; he was just enjoyable and relatable and loveable.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for this eARC to read and review! To be published Sep 2022
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Hate crime, Racism, Antisemitism, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Miscarriage and Alcohol
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