Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
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
I laughed. I cried. I wanted to throw up. All the signs of a good book.
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
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 Backlist gems from nearly ten years ago, this didn’t feel outdated at all.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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Pregnancy
Minor: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent
emotional
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
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Loved the voice and everything Gabi has to say about being a Good Girl and how it feels to be overweight. A lot of "issues" squeezed into one book, but very enjoyable reading all the same.
Great, realistic coming of age story with a Latina protagonist.
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces is a game-changer, and while I'm annoyed I hadn't heard of it sooner, I'm grateful that I'm finally aware of it's existence.
I've read a few YA books by Latino authors [some here], and while I loved most of them, none of them addressed serious issues quite like this one did. From what I've seen, when creators try to balance too many topics at once, they end up failing and not doing (most of) the issues justice--not Isabel Quintero. She writes about Gabi Hernandez's life and knows just how to juggle the dilemmas she and her family/friends encounter by fleshing each of them out in an appropriate way. [I'd list some examples, but I don't want to spoil everything.]
Not only did Quintero do an honorable job with the way she handled particular topics, she also made Gabi sound incredible authentic. Like someone I want to be friends with, but not in an impossible way, where you know this kind of person does not exist irl. Gabi made me laugh and cry, but there's more to her than just these two extremes. Her views on life didn't always resemble mine, and that was okay; she made me think deeper about my own thoughts on particular subjects. At times I got frustrated when she didn't fight people on their sexist views and hypocrisy, but I understood her struggle when it came to finding her own voice while still trying to be respectful of her relatives' opinions.
All in all, I was very pleased with this book and would highly recommend it to:
- Mexican-Americans
- young, budding poets
- people that didn't relate to American media they consumed as children
- food-lovers
- teenagers trying to figure "it" out
- everyone
I've read a few YA books by Latino authors [some here], and while I loved most of them, none of them addressed serious issues quite like this one did. From what I've seen, when creators try to balance too many topics at once, they end up failing and not doing (most of) the issues justice--not Isabel Quintero. She writes about Gabi Hernandez's life and knows just how to juggle the dilemmas she and her family/friends encounter by fleshing each of them out in an appropriate way. [I'd list some examples, but I don't want to spoil everything.]
Not only did Quintero do an honorable job with the way she handled particular topics, she also made Gabi sound incredible authentic. Like someone I want to be friends with, but not in an impossible way, where you know this kind of person does not exist irl. Gabi made me laugh and cry, but there's more to her than just these two extremes. Her views on life didn't always resemble mine, and that was okay; she made me think deeper about my own thoughts on particular subjects. At times I got frustrated when she didn't fight people on their sexist views and hypocrisy, but I understood her struggle when it came to finding her own voice while still trying to be respectful of her relatives' opinions.
All in all, I was very pleased with this book and would highly recommend it to:
- Mexican-Americans
- young, budding poets
- people that didn't relate to American media they consumed as children
- food-lovers
- teenagers trying to figure "it" out
- everyone
Did my 12th year final project on this book. Has a soft spot as a coming of age book in my heart.