Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Breathe and Count Back from Ten

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester

19 reviews

tinysierra's review

adventurous hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.75

“People act surprised by what I can do and surprised by what I can't, as if I'm supposed to exist in this narrow, static margin in between. But my body is a fluid thing. Sometimes it's complicated and inconsistent, but it makes sense because it's mine. My choices. My comfort. My decisions.”

Breathe and Count Back from Ten was a fun and beautiful read. I liked the flow of the story. I liked the references to Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid and the magic of the mermaid cove. I liked the definitions that Verónica came up with at the start of every chapter.

The romance was causal and low key. Unlike in rom coms where you see a lot of grand gestures, Alex and Verónica’s relationship felt down to earth.

Discussions about disability, bodily autonomy, depression, scars, being an immigrant family, heteronormativity.

“Somewhere on the opposite side of the glass, my parents are finally seeing me the way I want to be seen. No more hiding, no more pretending to blend in. Just a girl in an imperfect body, refusing to swim any further in shame. Telling the stories of her ancestors on new shores and in a new home. Telling legends of her own.”

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chasingpages1's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

3.5

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.25

Veronica, the protagonist in Breathe and Count Back From Ten, has hip dysplasia, as does the author. The impact of this on Veronica’s life comes through in many ways - pain, people reacting to her surgical scars, her parents being overprotective, loss of bodily autonomy, loss of “regular”life, the impact on her relationship with her sister, the hassle of regular medical appointments and the fear of further surgeries interfering with her life. Yet this wonderful YA novel is not solely about disability. Much of the plot revolves around Veronica wanting to pursue her dream of performing in a mermaid show, despite her parents’ opposition. The impact of immigration on this Peruvian-American family was another key theme as was their cultural heritage. There is also a sweet romance, a mental health storyline, another looking at sexual assault and issues of consent, plus an LGBTIQA+ storyline. This sounds like a lot but it never felt forced, nor did the story feel overstuffed since not all the themes and storylines are explored in depth. Veronica was a likeable protagonist. As a reader I wanted to cheer her on as she slowly negotiated, asserted and gained agency in her own life in a way that was sensible, safe and did not disrespect or disregard her parents. As a word nerd I found the dictionary entries at the start of each chapter a fun little bonus.

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.75

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rickireadss's review against another edition

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4.5

this was so freaking good!! i loved verónica SO MUCH and i felt myself relating to her a bunch. this books does a great job at exploring disability, immigration, and bodily autonomy. i think natalia does a great job at showing how people, who say they love you and want what's best for you, will treat you when you're disabled with ableism. the discussion around verónica's parents and how they treat/view her hurt my soul, but i think it was an important part of her story because it's something many disabled people face and experience.

i also think natalia did a great job with her discussions around bodily autonomy in regards to medical procedures and having control over what is happening to your body. i think many times, disabled and neurodivergent teens are overruled by their parents who "know best", but in reality, those parents are NOT the ones living in their teenagers' bodies - and i think that natalia including this in the story was very powerful.

overall, i had the BEST time with this book. i liked the whole mermaid obsession verónica has and the mermaid show was SO cool!! (i want to see one now!) i liked the little romance subplot between verónica and her new neighbor, alex. i do with it had been a little more fleshed out - i feel like they had minimal on-page interactions and those that were there seemed very deep. i wanted just a little more cute moments sprinkled in throughout. regardless, this book was PHENOMENAL, and i cannot wait to have a physical copy.

disability rep: hip dysplasia (fmc), clinical depression/depressive episodes (love interest)

⚠️: ableism, medical content, body shaming, sexual assault, sexism, emotional abuse, racism, mental illness (depression), suicidal thoughts

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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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

4.0

I have never highlighted a book like I have this one! The disability rep here spoke to me on another level. The story perfectly captured the relationship I have to my body; the disconnect, and how simultaneously my body is hugely familiar AND unfamiliar to me. I also appreciated how the book showed that ableism comes in part from disabled people “making” abled people uncomfortable, as we are “uncomfortable” reminders that humans are not meant to be “perfect”, are not designed to be, and that ALL bodies have needs. Furthermore, I loved how the story poked holes in how abled people want to “fix” us. This quote in particular spoke to that:

“And why should it matter, anyway, when so many things in nature - rivers and trees and shorelines and mountains - are free to be imperfect? No one calls a flower chueca as it bends its way toward the sky.”

There’s so much more glowing praise I could lavish on the disability rep here! It was so spot on, and I’ll be looking at the annotations I’ve made for years to come.

The key theme of the book is bodily autonomy, and how Verónica is trying to find and assert this as a disabled immigrant Latina girl. Each of her intersecting identities impact this challenge, and it is in her search that she develops so much as a character. I really loved this part of the story.

I also really liked the summery feel this novel had. It is brought out by the pools and sunbathing, sunshine and, of course, mermaids. We got so much detail regarding how being a mermaid performer works and I loved it! It gave me a whole new appreciation for that profession.

I did struggle with two things. The first is the romance between Verónica and Alex. I didn’t get their chemistry, especially as everything within their relationship seemed to move so quickly. On top of this, I just don’t think having a romance was necessary for this book. The same themes could have been explored without it, and it took time and space away from the development of these themes. The second thing I didn’t like was that Sylvester never really properly addressed Verónica’s belief that her younger sister Dani didn’t have problems, or that the ones that she did have were insignificant. I didn’t like this invalidation of Dani’s experience especially as, aside from being disabled, she would have been going through similar struggles to Verónica. I will say that I DID appreciate how Sylvester handled the glass-child narrative within this relationship, though!

Rep: Peruvian-American MC with hip dysplasia, Mexican-American LI with depression, Peruvian-American SCs, sapphic SC, Black sapphic SC, Japanese-American SC, Native American genderqueer SC

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chronicacademia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense 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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twistykris's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

A great book that delves into an teenage immigrant's desire to be a mermaid while juggling the intricacies of her hip dysplasia diagnosis. The water is freedom that provides a (relative) relief from the pain, while also providing some relief from her overwhelming- but well-meaning- parents.

A very cute, emotional book that I absorbed in less than a day. I wish we got more of a growing relationship between Verónica and Alex- maybe it's me reading it as an adult, but I felt like they went into a relationship and fell in love VERY quickly and it felt.. unrealistic? Even as teenagers. I also wish we delved more into Verónica and Dani's relationship as sisters. There are brief moments of them arguing, but it felt sort of shallow. I think it would have been nice to see them bond more.

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saf_185's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.75

I didn’t want this book to end at all. I found Veronica’s relationships with her mom, dad and sister very relatable. There were so many lines in this book that just absolutely gutted me

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archiveofrasa's review

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emotional informative lighthearted 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

4.25

a YA story that delves into the immigrant experience and involving the intricacies of disabilities too? count me the fuck in. while I'm not an American immigrant and am not Latine, the experiences where very real and I could definitely understand the complexity. Verónica was a really interesting narrative to follow and it is always nice to read about a particular disability written by someone who has that disability. her strong interest in mermaids was really fun and unique (in my opinion) and intergrating her own culture's folklore into it was so nice !!! despite not being Latine, the way her parents act is very similar to how South Asians act and I similarly felt the same frustration she felt. also her experience of wanted to be treated normally and not singled out (negatively or positively) was really well done.

my main criticisms lie in my personal opinions and what more I wanted. I loved Alex but how their relationship developed was a little insta-lovey; wanted more development from them! Veró is also a little self-centred, which is very understandable considering everything she has been through, I just wish we got a little more room to discuss that with Dani and elaborate on the nuances of this situation. there was some really nice prose scattered around in the story that I ended up highlighting, but overall it did read very easily, fitting for YA, made me realise I'm expecting more from YA than I should 😭

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