Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

10 reviews

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

This is what I expected and wanted from Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter that I didn’t get. Gabi is written with an authentic voice of a teenager who is juggling senior year in California with a lot of family & friends baggage. I laughed & cried. Questioning so much it was like I was seeing me in these pages. Gabi is being told that a good Mexican girl has a checklist but despite being the only (& oldest) daughter in the family yet her younger brother isn’t given those same rules. Yet Gabi has dreams of her own that don’t involve staying with an overworked, controlling mother. Backlist gems from nearly ten years ago, this didn’t feel outdated at all. Ironically, I was graduating college in 2014 but even 21 year old Amanda would have loved this as much as 31 year old me does today. 

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luna_bear's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

3.75


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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

told in the format of a journal interspersed w/ poems and even a zine, gabi, a girl in pieces reads like a YA classic w/ its story of identity, family, friendship, relationships, and grapples w/ the world.

the main character gabi is painfully, frighteningly relatable w/ her sturggles w/ body image, eating, complicated relationship w/ family, and her narrative voice is wry and at times hilarious. it's satisfying to see her grow and evolve thruout the novel, gradually thinking critically abt the world around her and the way girls are treated in her cultural context, and eventually speaking up and making her voice heard.

there's a lot going on in this short book, w/ quintero tackling numerous topics and issues, and tho it can feel a lil overwhelming at times, it's also realistic. there's addiction, teen pregnancy, rape culture, coming (and getting kicked) out, body image, internalized misogyny, and cultural pressure, to name a few. quintero approaches them all w/ equal parts realism and empathy. furthermore, the poems - esp those abt gabi's family - can be particularly touching, while the zine poems are technically great yet incisive.

i only wish things didnt peter out for cindy and sebastian towards the end, w/ gabi seeming hyperfocused in her own head. also i cant help but be a lil confused as to why many boys suddenly flock to gabi when nothing abt her has rly changed internally or externally. the narrative can also get repetitive at times, w/ some things mentioned or happening over and over, blurring many of the events tgt into one indistinct blob. the end couldve been less abrupt too.

while this novel contains serious themes and topics, it addresses and explores them w/ empathetic realism thru a humorous and wry narrative voice; an inevitable YA classic. 

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asaugustine's review against another edition

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funny reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I picked this book up because it was in my classroom library and the cover was… provocative. I really enjoyed the epistolary style, and felt like it moved the story along at a quick pace. I also appreciated the honesty with which the book tackled complex issues; the internal conflicts felt very real, and the ebbs and flows of Senior year were also quite realistic - I appreciated how not all of the conflicts occurred at the very end of the novel, because, you know, sometimes problems happen in the middle of January in the midst of a school year. 

I would best describe this book as a grittier version of “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”, advancing many of the same themes and tropes, but with a slightly older audience in mind. A good read, although I will reserve it for only a few of my eighth grade students who are mature enough to handle the material. 

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aconfundityofcrows's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

This hit me in all the right places.

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ginadapooh's review

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emotional funny 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


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queen_emmy's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

Gabi is a loveable narrator and hearing the story in “diary” format directly from her gives the reader almost omniscient insight into who she is and how she thinks. She and her friends all go through their fair share of tough situations during their final years of high school, but they are fiercely loyal to one another and always have each others’ backs. While parts of this book are hard to read because such likable characters are struggling, I think this book paints the issues that some teens face in a very honest light and I felt that this was one of those books that needed to be written.

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vanessamex's review

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

4.0


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rileyreadsbooks's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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allzen_nochill's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

We stan a fat protagonist who gets to stay fat. Gabi's voice is quintessentially teenage girl, which is great in many ways & grating in others (man, do I not miss high school at all). The only thing about diary-style books is that sometimes we don't get as rich of a backdrop as we do with other narrative styles and this is definitely a case here. We spend a lot of time in Gabi's head - admittedly a great place - but not enough in her world. The book is good, but it's that one little quality that makes me think this probably won't be on my obsessive re-reading list.

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