Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

51 reviews

mairi99's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

naisdayz's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is a very important book. It touches on a variety of topics, from coming out (in an immigrant household specifically), being outed involuntarily, religious guilt and shame, as well as racism and homophobia generally.

It took me a bit to get into the book, but once I did, I devoured it. 

Since the book tries to do a lot, it obviously doesn't cut very deep on all topics - but I think it's a great base for doing further research or reading other books about related issues. Therefore, I don't necessarily view it as a weakness.

The mom's switch-up toward the end seemed a little sudden to me, as well. I wonder if she would have reacted the same if Cesar hadnt attempted suicide.

I loved Yami as a character and a narrator. I often found myself smiling or even laughing at her sarcastic remarks. I really wanted to give her a hug.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Classism, and Deportation

empirerecords1995's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Deportation

elliereadsthings's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
 
"Mijo, if the Bible tells me I shouldn't love my kids, then the Bible is wrong."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Deportation

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Abortion, and Classism

mooncxrx's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

i went into this book worrying if it's 'too young' for me and too much talk instead of show, but it ended up blowing me away. it's clearly YA, but it's so incredibly well done. so many important issues are dealt with, without it becoming too heavy or deep while still properly dealing with them and getting you emotionally invested.. idk. it's just an amazing coming of age story that had me crying a lot and that i wish my 15 year old self had had 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Outing

Minor: Deportation

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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? No

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this coming-of-age story and am grateful, again, that stories like this exist for today's teens. The short chapters and first-person narration make this a fast-paced read, and I enjoyed the irreverent, sincere and self-deprecating voice of our main character, Yamilet. Reyes explores the complex intersections in identity for Yamilet, who comes out as a lesbian, and her younger brother, Cesar, who comes out as bisexual, within their deeply Catholic, Mexican-American household. We can see the layered obstacles for this family as they fight to stay afloat independently years after the deportation of their father (leaving their mother as the family's sole source of income) and thrive in a world that feels fractured along too many religious, cultural and familial fault lines. 

Most compelling in this story is Reyes' look at mental health crises for queer teens. We know statistically that queer teens face disproportionately high rates of bullying and harassment, physical and sexual abuse, depression, and suicidal ideation, and we see these themes explicitly played out in Yamilet and Cesar's storylines. Readers who like to see on-page discussions of mental health care and intervention (akin to Heartstopper) will appreciate how these conflicts are managed by Reyes - particularly how they evidence the ways in which racism and classism within healthcare further complicate crisis care and long-term support for marginalized youth.

I found myself more drawn to the family dynamics and interpersonal relationships (outside of the romances) in this story (the sibling dynamic between Yami + Cesar meant the world to me), so I was only disappointed that the final 20% centered romance to the degree that it did for Yamilet - that said, this was just personal preference. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Abandonment

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing and Blood

boop123's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

 

Straight up five stars. And yes I’m being biased solely because this was me back in junior high.

I loved the sentiments surrounding the timeline on coming out. No one should feel obligated to tell everyone they’re queer and I’m glad this book emphasized that because it is incredibly difficult to come out when the stakes are high, in this case, religious environments. I also loved how the author tackled the relationship between religion and sexual identity because how can one truly have a personal relationship with God (or any other religion) when the scriptures tell them they’re an abomination? I truly resonate with what Yamilet was going through. How she is already panning out her future if ever she was to come out, the money that she has to save if they don’t accept her, having to convince everyone else she’s straight, her sentiments around Catholicism and her sexuality, and how she can’t fully say the word “lesbian” without feeling squirmy like…. this was literally me 😭 

Even though i knew that she was gonna come out and everything would work out because almost all YA queer books, especially ones taking place in high school, end that way, it was nice to read a book like this because she got her happy ending. And we all know there are still people like me who are still stuck in those circumstances knowing the risks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Outing

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Deportation

mle11's review

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Deportation

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality

madelinedalton's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

This was so cute! Excellent representation and great storytelling. My only real complaint is that narrative voice is very YA, which was hard to get into as a 25-year-old reader. That’s not an objective flaw at all—this book is very clearly for a younger demographic—but it did impact my personal reading experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt

Minor: Blood and Alcohol

amberinpieces's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation