Reviews

Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet

zre_rodri's review

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

lisa_and_her_books's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

allenl's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

january_one's review

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adventurous informative mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

seasonedreadings's review

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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expecto_padronum's review

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medium-paced

2.5

I came into this as a fan of JCC’s other 3 books but this one really wasn’t for me. The heavy reliance on Scarface and Pitbull references felt gimmicky.  I get that JCC’s books aren’t meant to appeal to the widest audience possible, but it felt limiting to have this story that can’t stand on its own without these other two pieces of pop culture. I don’t like heavy reliance on pop culture in books period so that’s on me for still picking it up, but I wanted to give this one a chance since I like her other books so much. I enjoyed the Tia Tere / Izzy / Julisa chapters, but I started skimming over the whale chapters after the first few, it felt like overkill. 

I was going to give this 3 stars, but the ending knocked it down another half star.

I’ve never read Moby Dick so I’m guessing it ends the same way and I should’ve seen that coming. Books don’t have to be fair obviously but Izzy didn’t deserve that so it was disappointing to read, although his story wasn’t really going anywhere so. Yeah. Also the letter from Pitbull felt so presumptious and kind of illegal? It  doesn’t sit right with me for an author to put so many words into the mouth of a real person in order to further their own agenda in a story.

one_eye's review against another edition

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funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

unfortunately i’ve never seen Scarface or read Moby Dick so i think a lot of this book went over my head. that being said, there was still a lot to appreciate and it was honestly really funny. i switched to the audiobook about halfway through and i definitely preferred that, the writing style really lends itself to the audio format and the narrator is fantastic

hillarycopsey's review

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4.5

I cannot get over the sheer daring of this book. A mash-up of Moby Dick & Scarface, with a Pitbull impersonator and a captive orca as your main characters, set in Miami, dealing with immigration and family inheritance and climate change and class in America ... and it all worked. It took just a bit to get into the story, but I read the back half in one big gulp because I wanted so much to know what would happy to Izzy and Lolita. 

Weird, sharp and poignant. 


toreadistovoyage's review against another edition

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4.5

This is a wild book. It’s really unlike anything I have ever read. This book is about Miami, obsession, Scarface, Pitbull, relationships, iguanas, murder, loyalty, immigration, and orcas - not necessarily in that order but also not in that order. This story is layered and richly told. A truly unique experience. 

lh77's review

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funny reflective fast-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

2.5