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zluke's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Regardless it was an interesting read and I learned a little more about what's its like to live with HIV in Brazil. Highlights really well that there's still a lot of stigma and shame as well as misinformation surrounding HIV that we need to challenge.
Graphic: Homophobia and Outing
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- 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
I learned a lot about the modern diagnosis and treatment process of HIV/AIDS as well as the Brazilian cultural significance of queerness and HIV/AIDS.
This was an audiobook read for me and I enjoyed all the narrators and it helped me differentiate the different povs which can otherwise be a challenge in audio form.
I recommend this to fans of queer YA coming-of-age novels like Ziggy Stardust and Me and This is Kind of an Awkward Love Story.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Medical content
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Outing
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Drug use, Violence, and Blood
HIV/AIDS stigma, medical treatment and side effects of treatment/lack of treatment for HIV/AIDS.megelizabeth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
I really liked this book on the whole. It does a wonderful job of highlighting the importance of joy of friendship and found family, and of drag communities, and builds a narrative around HIV that is both educational and a good story. I personally enjoyed Ian's point of view most, and particularly loved his relationship with his sister. I liked Henrique and Victor as characters, but I struggled to feel connected to their relationship - I think it would have helped to start the story slightly earlier, prior to them meeting - and found myself becoming frustrated at the constant back-and-forth between them. Overall, though, I did like this book a lot and it's given me a lot to think about, and I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for anything else Lucas Rocha writes in the future.
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Suicide
robyn_fenix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Hate crime, Chronic illness, and Homophobia
Moderate: Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Bullying
Minor: Blood
innastholiel's review
- 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
Graphic: Hate crime
Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Abandonment
Minor: Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide, and Sexual content
anniereads221's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, and Violence
HIV AIDS HP referencesramreadsagain's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Outside of that though this is a good book. It covers an important topic that I wish I had known more about when I was younger, and it even taught me a couple of things today. It’s also a really nice story, covering three different perspectives.
I wish there was more development of their friendship. A lot of the narration was devoted to irrelevant descriptions and the pacing was a bit off at times. Furthermore the Henrique/Victor romance felt “rushed” just because most of it happened before the book started so we don’t really see them interact much which lead me to not be invested in the romance. It has a bit of a “tell not show” issue as well and I felt that the moral of the story was a bit heavyhanded but I understand that these are often standard characteristics of young adult books.
I’d recommend it for fans of YA.
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Hate crime
Minor: Outing and Alcohol
jayisreading's review against another edition
3.0
Don’t get me wrong, I actually learned a lot more about HIV, but I also picked this book up with expectations that I’ll get a story of some kind. Yes, there was a story, but this definitely wasn’t a plot-driven book and focused more on delivering information about HIV to me. There was some interesting character development, though, to show how HIV personally impacted the protagonists, but it wasn’t anything revolutionary.
Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Sexual content
laurenleigh's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Hate crime
Moderate: Blood and Homophobia
aromarrie's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Alcohol and Medical content
Minor: Homophobia