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aryelee's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book got my out of my reading slump. I read this in order to read his newest book, a sequel to Barely Missing Everything, and I just flew through the pages. It's very much a story for and about teenage boys; there's a very distinctive voice for the novel taking readers through the senior year of two high school boys, with some chapters focusing on the mother of the main character to give some more background on their lives and who they are.
There's this feeling permeating the story, a need to go go go until the last few chapters of the novel. It feels like a very authentic view of El Paso (where this author is from) and is full of bad decisions, young boys doing their best to figure out the life they want to live, and the difficulties Mexican Americans face in a country that is centered on a predominantly white culture.
The writing itself isn't very impressive. The story is told, it goes quickly, but there is no specific section I would quote, no lines that resonated with me or stuck in my head. It's a fairly simplistic writing style, so people who enjoy that kind of style will like this novel.
There's this feeling permeating the story, a need to go go go until the last few chapters of the novel. It feels like a very authentic view of El Paso (where this author is from) and is full of bad decisions, young boys doing their best to figure out the life they want to live, and the difficulties Mexican Americans face in a country that is centered on a predominantly white culture.
The writing itself isn't very impressive. The story is told, it goes quickly, but there is no specific section I would quote, no lines that resonated with me or stuck in my head. It's a fairly simplistic writing style, so people who enjoy that kind of style will like this novel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Gun violence
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