Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

8 reviews

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-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

3.0

I think this book has the potential to change the lives of a lot of teens, but only if they don’t get to Adam Silvera’s and Becky Albertalli’s work first. 

It took a while for me to get into this book. For the first three quarters, it felt like an nth iteration of a book I’d read before: closeted queer kid doesn’t communicate with anyone, jumps to all the wrong conclusions and is surprised when things turn out differently than expected. I found the plot/character beats highly predictable, the lack of communication incredibly irritating, and the characters very flat. Especially the main character - I found myself thinking multiple times that I was much more interested in Cesar’s perspective than his sister, Yami’s. 

I think my main gripe with this book is that it’s inconsistent. There’s a lot of loose ends here; story arcs that never get resolved, characters that get introduced but never get their on-screen moment, and character relationships that don’t really make sense.

Like the fact that Yami didn’t see how much Cesar was struggling, when they’re supposedly such close siblings. What happened to telepathy?

The book started off with a job hunt, the significance of which was unclear by the end of the book. Yami’s ex-best friend came to visit a couple of times, but they never got the chance to talk. Stuff like that. 

That being said, the last 25% of this book was really cute.

I like that Yami obviously grew as a person, being able to stand up for herself and Bo, and that she got to have her happy ending. I’m glad she opened up to Bo about everything that happened with Bianca, and Cesar’s suicide attempt.

I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read this book, but I just don’t think it adds much to the literary landscape of queer YA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Self harm and Domestic abuse

Minor: Body shaming

lemoni's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Biphobia, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Self harm, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, Lesbophobia, Xenophobia, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Police brutality

Minor: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief

megbert581's review

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-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

5.0

😭😭😍😍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Bullying

Minor: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

levitatingnumeral's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School manages to touch on some really tough topics with grace and seriousness while being a light and pleasant read.
It’s truly lovely, I didn’t want to put it down and the characters are so well fleshed out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Deportation, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Racism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Toxic friendship, Classism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Biphobia

emily_mh's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

I don’t really feel capable of giving a proper, detailed review of this book because I am simply in awe of it. Just know that it is a perfect book about queerness, lesbians pining for each other, a gorgeous sibling relationship, celebrating every part of who you are, complicated families, mental health, the trauma of religious bigotry, being Brown and queer in a majority allocishet white space, forced separation from family, relearning to trust, rebonding with loved ones, simple and massive moments of joy, and ultimately, hope. I loved reading every second of it. 

My favourite quote was: “I can’t make him love himself. The closest I can get is loving myself unapologetically right in front of him.” 

Rep: lesbian Chicana MC, lesbian Chinese-American LI, bisexual Chicano SC, Native American (Navajo) SC, queer Black SC 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Racism

Moderate: Deportation, Vomit, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Outing, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Violence, Grief, Bullying, Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Abortion

Moderate: forced separation from family, disownment, suicidal ideation Minor: loss of a loved one, colourism, one use of the Spanish homophobic m-slur, one use of the lesbophobic d-slur

cecerosa's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Self harm, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Deportation

toffishay's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? No

3.5

This was a really emotional read! I felt very connected to Yamilet as I think many young women of color who went to a predominantly white institution will. Her struggles against racism (institutional and interpersonal), homophobia, sexism and unfair/unequal familial expectations, and her strong desire to be able to just live as herself, made this a very compelling and relatable read. I also like the way that her family life is fleshed out and many of the other characters in her school and her home life are able to grow and have some additional dimension. I think that the book dragged a little at the end. We were approaching wrap up and then another piece of plot happened that felt a little too tacked on and Hallmark-y. But it is a YA story and I think it would be something that a teenager would enjoy being incorporated. A really nice read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Racism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Self harm, Physical abuse, Outing, Alcohol, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Violence, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Child abuse, Classism, Hate crime, Deportation, and Blood

tinytrashqueen's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Racism, Bullying, Homophobia, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Outing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abortion