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smack_books's review against another edition
4.0
This book does such a good job at handling trauma and how everyone handles their trauma in different ways. Just the way the characters’ mental illnesses are portrayed feels so real and a lot of books don’t achieve this. I feel like this is a book everyone should read and it really resonated with me.
jlinvill1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
lobstersbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
moserk's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
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
Love the premise - YA read with big themes and their intersectionality:
- immigrants/immigration
- LGBTQIA identities and their acceptance/lack thereof
- familial roles
- medical/healthcare ethics,
but execution fell short of my high hopes + left me wanting more. That said, really happy to know this exists in YA.
The pace felt rushed - just 50 more pages to shed more light, please! And some pieces really lacked clarity - although, maybe some of this is due to the focus on character/topic diversity, which again, I much appreciated. I (literally) felt like this story was all over the place - couldn't keep our location sequence sorted.
Worth noting: I had both a physical and audio copy of this and understood better during my physical chapters. At first I thought the detail disconnect was a symptom of my audio portions, but a quick peek at other reviews tells me that I'm not alone here.
The pace felt rushed - just 50 more pages to shed more light, please! And some pieces really lacked clarity - although, maybe some of this is due to the focus on character/topic diversity, which again, I much appreciated. I (literally) felt like this story was all over the place - couldn't keep our location sequence sorted.
Worth noting: I had both a physical and audio copy of this and understood better during my physical chapters. At first I thought the detail disconnect was a symptom of my audio portions, but a quick peek at other reviews tells me that I'm not alone here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Grief, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia
kadowodle's review against another edition
5.0
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! There's no point in my reviews- if anybody sees this it'll be Jack so hi Jack!!! This book was so fricken good and I'm only a little upset with how it ended but took me less than two days and just wow
julie_responsibly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
kellijoy's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the story but did not care for the ending. I did appreciate the positive ending for the characters and the representation in the story. I felt that it was rushed towards the end. But all in all, YA's need to see representation like this: immigrants and lesbians.
lattelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, just wow. Villasante has taken on the task to write a novel encompassing science fiction, a PTSD survivor, a lesbian main character, asylum-seekers, a mourning family, jealous friends, the struggle between assimilation and retaining one's culture, and how able one is to "withstand" trauma based on the color of one's skin. HOO BOY. That's a lot. And she succeeds at every inch of it.
When Marisol and Gabi, her younger sister, decide to leave the border camp after their request for asylum was denied, they figure it's better than the alternative--waiting even longer for the request to go through, or be sent back to El Salvador where Marisol might be killed. But the woman who picked them up as hitchhikers gives Marisol an interesting proposition: in exchange for keeping someone's grief for one month, the last stage of an important experiment, she will grant both her and her younger sister a green card. Well, how hard could it be?
As per the experiment's guidelines, Marisol is paired up with a girl her age. And this girl is wild. She's cut off all her hair, she's trying to sneak out at night, and she threatens suicide. She also refuses to take part of the experiment. Without the experiment, Marisol might be sent back to El Salvador, so she takes it upon herself to get this girl--Rey--to agree to the experiment.
Villasante immediately brings up some of the most important questions this book asks. Why is it okay to transfer someone's grief to another? Everyone says that Marisol can "withstand" so much. But does she have a choice? And regardless, why did they choose her of all people, to help a white girl with her grief when she already has so much of her own? And then, of course, are the romantic questions. If we only know someone's grief, can we ever truly know them? Can we truly know people across language boundaries? And then, of course, the class questions. How possible is it to accept somebody else's way of living when they can't even remember others who look like you? How can somebody be so incredibly distraught and sad when they've had everything handed to them? And then, of course, the questions about family. When there are no parents, must you assume that responsibility? Are secrets best kept from each other, and can forgiveness help heal?
This is the science fiction that I'm into. I don't want outer space or alien take-overs or anything like that. I want realistic experiments that have a deviously and deceptive downside to their ethics. After all, what use is taking someone's grief and trauma away from them if it's only going to contribute to those searching for asylum and immigration entries? What's the ethical side of it all? How many people will such experiments help? And how many--and who--will it harm?
Just, oh my god. This book, this BOOK. There are very few books that I check out from the library that I immediately place into my shopping cart, but this is one of the few that have felt so important that I've used my credit card as a bookmark. Here's to poignant writing and copious amounts of creativity!
Review cross-listed here!
When Marisol and Gabi, her younger sister, decide to leave the border camp after their request for asylum was denied, they figure it's better than the alternative--waiting even longer for the request to go through, or be sent back to El Salvador where Marisol might be killed. But the woman who picked them up as hitchhikers gives Marisol an interesting proposition: in exchange for keeping someone's grief for one month, the last stage of an important experiment, she will grant both her and her younger sister a green card. Well, how hard could it be?
As per the experiment's guidelines, Marisol is paired up with a girl her age. And this girl is wild. She's cut off all her hair, she's trying to sneak out at night, and she threatens suicide. She also refuses to take part of the experiment. Without the experiment, Marisol might be sent back to El Salvador, so she takes it upon herself to get this girl--Rey--to agree to the experiment.
Villasante immediately brings up some of the most important questions this book asks. Why is it okay to transfer someone's grief to another? Everyone says that Marisol can "withstand" so much. But does she have a choice? And regardless, why did they choose her of all people, to help a white girl with her grief when she already has so much of her own? And then, of course, are the romantic questions. If we only know someone's grief, can we ever truly know them? Can we truly know people across language boundaries? And then, of course, the class questions. How possible is it to accept somebody else's way of living when they can't even remember others who look like you? How can somebody be so incredibly distraught and sad when they've had everything handed to them? And then, of course, the questions about family. When there are no parents, must you assume that responsibility? Are secrets best kept from each other, and can forgiveness help heal?
This is the science fiction that I'm into. I don't want outer space or alien take-overs or anything like that. I want realistic experiments that have a deviously and deceptive downside to their ethics. After all, what use is taking someone's grief and trauma away from them if it's only going to contribute to those searching for asylum and immigration entries? What's the ethical side of it all? How many people will such experiments help? And how many--and who--will it harm?
Just, oh my god. This book, this BOOK. There are very few books that I check out from the library that I immediately place into my shopping cart, but this is one of the few that have felt so important that I've used my credit card as a bookmark. Here's to poignant writing and copious amounts of creativity!
Review cross-listed here!
elissarodriguez22's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
3.0
I really wanted to love this book. It touches on how undocumented people/ people of color have always been used as medical experiments for the US. How we can not trust government officials, the difficulties of being queer and POC, and being in a new country.
But it fell just a bit short, I wanted it expanded on more, flushed out. The ending just feels like “welp, that’s that on that”
Anyway, loved the concept, wasn’t the happiest with the execution
But it fell just a bit short, I wanted it expanded on more, flushed out. The ending just feels like “welp, that’s that on that”
Anyway, loved the concept, wasn’t the happiest with the execution
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Suicide attempt