This book absolutely was one you probably shouldn't set to the side unless you read it in one sitting. It took longer for me because I was kind of confused with the plot at first, but as I finished reading it, I slowly understood.

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the_true_monroe's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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

4.75

So many people rely on art to process their emotions and cope with a world where they are made to feel that they do not belong, and are treated as: less than, a burden, too much, broken and unnatural.

When we utilize art in this way though, what are we trying to do for ourselves? Are we trying to put the worst of us into a form that we should keep sealed shut like a genie in a bottle and mask, or are we wanting to capture each part of us so we can recognize what is going on in our head, why and how we can process that, or for some other reasons?

This book presents two nonbinary, brown, neurodivergent teens who have a curious and mystical connection with a part of the world others are unable to enter and perceive, that seems to revolve around using art as an escape and release. We see these characters who truly have been growing into their true selves, confronted by things from the past they worked so hard to bury deep down.

I absolutely loved listening to the audiobook, and how aside from a focus on internalized ableism, along with experiences of ableism, racism and transphobia , both main characters have solid, strong support systems and people who really do get them. There is no sugar coating but also so much emphasis on how simple it can be for people to accept you as you are, and learn and grow alongside you.

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lopeared's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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stacyaj's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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nrchambers's review

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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? It's complicated

3.25

I loved the concept and the characters but found the narrative slow and mildly repetitive.

Content Warnings

rustedguina's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I have adhd, and honestly this authors depiction of adhd was kind of annoying to me. I knew everything they were talking about and they kept saying the same things over and over again about the character’s adhd. It made it seem like this horrible burden, and while it times it can be it is also not all of the time. While the main characters have marginalized identities the author often focuses on the bad parts of these identities and it is not written in an empowering way. That being said I did like the overall theme and message about dealing with your emotions.

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discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

What worked: the thing I’m discovering about Anna-Marie McLemore is that their use of language can be so disarmingly beautiful—like I’ll read a sentence and audibly gasp—but not in a way that feels inaccessible. I’m not looking up every other word or anything, I’ll just think to myself: “what a lovely way to phrase that!”

As someone who is neurodivergent and non-binary myself, I also really identified with a lot of the descriptions of both Bastián’s ADHD and just the overall discussions of gender from both Bastián and Lore’s perspectives. There were so many times that I highlighted things just because it felt like I was reading something that had been taken out of my own brain.

(I’ve also never read a book where dyslexia was described so thoroughly, which I found really helpful because I know very little about how that feels for a person living with it.)

I appreciated that this was a story about accepting the parts of yourself that you wish you could expel. If you’re someone like me, who makes a habit of ruminating on all your bad days or moments, and allowing them to convince you that you’re irredeemable, then you will absolutely resonate with Bastián and Lore.

But what makes this story so powerful is that it reminds those of us with brains we have to put effort into working with, that our bad days are part of us too, and that doesn’t make us any less worthy of love.

“So many of us are haunted by versions of ourselves we wish we could exile. But the pieces of our beings don’t pull apart that easily. If we try to unweave ourselves, we unravel at the edges. So we all do the work of reconciling who we are now with the ghosts we once were.”

It also highlights, quite powerfully, how the bad thoughts and emotions that we attempt to suppress will only reinsert themselves with more force the more we refuse to deal with them.

Now here’s what didn’t work (for me): I struggled with the jumps between chapters more than a few times. The chapters are relatively short—sometimes less than a page long—which is not a problem at all, but the thing is, between chapters the story often jumps rather abruptly, and it wouldn’t be clear how much, if any, time had passed. You wouldn’t be sure if it was just a horizontal jump through space but not time (just a perspective shift from one character to another) or if you jumped forward in time as well.

The second big thing is the pacing lagged. I’d say for a large chunk of the middle part of the story, it didn’t feel like very much was happening and it got repetitive.

The chapters started to feel like “open with ‘the thing about living with ADHD is…’, maybe interact with friends or adults, then the world floods, colors everywhere, Lore/Bastián encounter one another mid-flood, the water recedes, rinse, repeat,” until finally around the 65/70% mark new things started happening and I felt reengaged.

I hope that doesn’t sound overly critical or put anyone off. Like I said, the language and the descriptions are lovely, and I think the book has a ton of value, especially for neurodivergent people and the folks who love them. Plus it has a ton of important commentary about racism (one really powerful quote that stuck out to me, was “I’m brown, and trans, and I have a learning disability. My sheer existence is as much nuance as I get to have. Who I am uses up all the space the world is willing to give me, and even that, I have to fight to keep open. I am already a living confrontation. My story doesn’t get to be complicated.”)

It’s a message that I think bears repeating again and again:

“Once you get past the fear of being seen, you can get to the part where you know you’re not alone.”

Content Warnings

ree_anna's review

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emotional inspiring 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

4.75

Content Warnings

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