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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
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:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book and I would've given it 5-stars except for a certain part that won't shake out of my head. When Sana thinks Jamie is cheating on her, her and her friends think its okay for her to cheat on her right back?? NO! Cheating is wrong and trying to rationalise it by saying "It's okay if I'm being cheated on!" is very harmful and puts the wrong idea into people's heads... Other than that, it was a good book, I'll give it that
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Decent entry in the YA lgbt2ia+ category, it felt both too short and too long. The complexities between the cultures was well executed, and the sense of awkwardness of realising the biases previously unknown to the character was well done.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this book so bad. It's got all the ingredients of a book I should like, but the main character is such an awful person, and not in the awkward, teenager-making-mistakes way, either. She spends most of the book judging her father for an affair, and then turns around and cheats? Like make it make sense, because it doesn't. Never mind the race issue that are brought up, but just completely glossed over.
Overall, this is just a mess. It's been a very long time since I've actively despised a main character this much.
Overall, this is just a mess. It's been a very long time since I've actively despised a main character this much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
A tough start, a good middle, a satisfying end.
2.5/5 stars
It was an entertaining read, and certainly a quick, easy one. The pacing worked for me, and the majority of the first half of this was a genuine delight to get through. The characters felt real and rounded, further nuanced by the difficult conversations this book tackled among them including race, sexuality, adultery, and more.
The romance, once in place, felt real, and I appreciated that (while largely unspoken and perhaps not wholly understood here) sexual and romantic attraction were treated as two steps in a process rather than one that instantly collided between our characters. This is what had me rooting for the relationship despite the obvious flaws in the characters.
Sana made for an interesting narrator, and her voice and tone were evident in every facet of this book. But often so much was frustrating to see -- intentionally for much of it -- wherein she failed to see her own hypocrisy and prejudices. This is fine as a step in development, but these prejudices were never fully addressed. She recognizes that she was being racist but never got to the crux of it, as though saying "yeah I was being racist" is a way to make up for those kinds of behavior. What is she actually doing to address this?
I will admit that I never really saw the topic of adultery to be as complex as what was issues here.
The lower rating comes in part because of the cheating plotline (not the father one) that beyond upset me (so much commentary can be made to have a lesbian cheat with a man to get back at her girlfriend, like what the hell. What kind of bullshit was that. I'm. I can't even begin to delve into how and why this was so wrong and misguided). I didn't mind the total severance from the friend in Wisconsin, but it felt a bit unreal for it to be so easy to cut someone out of your life like that -- the fact that this friend because an object of sexual exploration rather than a character was,,,, not my favorite, but this may be personal preference. I do also wish that perhaps the cast of characters was smaller, as some of them got lost in the sheer volume, and their development was undercut by the fact that I kept forgetting they were supposed to be a part of the narrative.
I don't regret reading it, and this book was equal parts enjoyable and frustrating in reflection, but I can't complain.
It was an entertaining read, and certainly a quick, easy one. The pacing worked for me, and the majority of the first half of this was a genuine delight to get through. The characters felt real and rounded, further nuanced by the difficult conversations this book tackled among them including race, sexuality, adultery, and more.
The romance, once in place, felt real, and I appreciated that (while largely unspoken and perhaps not wholly understood here) sexual and romantic attraction were treated as two steps in a process rather than one that instantly collided between our characters. This is what had me rooting for the relationship despite the obvious flaws in the characters.
Sana made for an interesting narrator, and her voice and tone were evident in every facet of this book. But often so much was frustrating to see -- intentionally for much of it -- wherein she failed to see her own hypocrisy and prejudices. This is fine as a step in development, but these prejudices were never fully addressed. She recognizes that she was being racist but never got to the crux of it, as though saying "yeah I was being racist" is a way to make up for those kinds of behavior. What is she actually doing to address this?
I will admit that I never really saw the topic of adultery to be as complex as what was issues here.
Spoiler
It really raises the question on what we see as socially acceptable and how our social norms influence our "right" and "wrong," simplifying something to its seemingly obvious conclusion. This story rejected this. Should Sana's mother leave the adulterous marriage when she knowingly signed up for this, when she has resigned herself to this position with all the information? Should she be made to divorce anyway, even though she clearly wants to stay? Do we get to decide what is best for her? Yes, her situation sucks because she's in an adulterous relationship, but she expressed autonomy in her choice to stay -- how would we be responding by forcing her to leave, and where does the unhealthiness lie here in a way that can be solved, if it can be solved at all? I have no idea what the "right" answer is, but this was, to me, the most well-adapted aspect of the book with how deeply it was explored. The fact that it was so unexpected and made to be latent rather than obvious aided this.The lower rating comes in part because of the cheating plotline (not the father one) that beyond upset me (so much commentary can be made to have a lesbian cheat with a man to get back at her girlfriend, like what the hell. What kind of bullshit was that. I'm. I can't even begin to delve into how and why this was so wrong and misguided). I didn't mind the total severance from the friend in Wisconsin, but it felt a bit unreal for it to be so easy to cut someone out of your life like that -- the fact that this friend because an object of sexual exploration rather than a character was,,,, not my favorite, but this may be personal preference. I do also wish that perhaps the cast of characters was smaller, as some of them got lost in the sheer volume, and their development was undercut by the fact that I kept forgetting they were supposed to be a part of the narrative.
I don't regret reading it, and this book was equal parts enjoyable and frustrating in reflection, but I can't complain.