Scan barcode
A review by jennireadz
No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado
4.0
4 Stars
Rep: questioning-bisexual, Puerto Rican, & fat MC, Puerto Rican SCs, sapphic & fat SC
Kat is obsessed with her Instagram. She checks it constantly, wanting to get recognition for her photography that she shares. She obsesses over the app, she follows a ton of influencers wanting to be like them, she keeps a running tally in her head of the amount of followers she has and compares it to every person she’s around. She doesn’t understand why she stays stagnant on her followers when she’s sharing her beautiful photos.
So, in the midst of being worried about her Instagram following, things with her best friend turning a bit more than friendly, her having strange feelings around a new, girl friend, and her broken family, she drunkenly makes a new Instagram account as Max, using pictures of a friend who has sworn off social media. And that account starts blowing up - she wakes up to hundreds of likes and follows out of seemingly nowhere. Kat knows it’s wrong, but then she meets Elena there, and she can’t bring herself to delete the account.
This book is messy, I won’t lie, but in a beautiful way. In a very teenager way, of needing to feel like you’re in control when life is going on around you and not going the way you’d really like. One thing that really drew me in was that Kat admits to lying, but as a narrator, she seems pretty honest, because while she’s lying to the world around her, she’s not really lying to herself.
Since this book is so heavy on Instagram, I’m so glad it had passages talking about some of the harm, about how things can’t really be trusted on social media, and we see that firsthand as Max cannot be trusted because she doesn’t exist. And Kat knows there are consequences if things get out but, like a typical teenager, she thinks it’ll be okay and she’ll be able to smooth them over.
Social media is something that has taken over lives, but I rarely ever see it written about in books, especially not this way. It was a great read, I was super interested throughout the book, and each character is uniquely themselves, in the best way. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone who is also obsessed with social media, but I feel like most teens and young adults can learn some lessons and truly enjoy the story.
Rep: questioning-bisexual, Puerto Rican, & fat MC, Puerto Rican SCs, sapphic & fat SC
“How is it so that the lines between what’s real and what’s edited can be so blurred on social media?”
Kat is obsessed with her Instagram. She checks it constantly, wanting to get recognition for her photography that she shares. She obsesses over the app, she follows a ton of influencers wanting to be like them, she keeps a running tally in her head of the amount of followers she has and compares it to every person she’s around. She doesn’t understand why she stays stagnant on her followers when she’s sharing her beautiful photos.
So, in the midst of being worried about her Instagram following, things with her best friend turning a bit more than friendly, her having strange feelings around a new, girl friend, and her broken family, she drunkenly makes a new Instagram account as Max, using pictures of a friend who has sworn off social media. And that account starts blowing up - she wakes up to hundreds of likes and follows out of seemingly nowhere. Kat knows it’s wrong, but then she meets Elena there, and she can’t bring herself to delete the account.
This book is messy, I won’t lie, but in a beautiful way. In a very teenager way, of needing to feel like you’re in control when life is going on around you and not going the way you’d really like. One thing that really drew me in was that Kat admits to lying, but as a narrator, she seems pretty honest, because while she’s lying to the world around her, she’s not really lying to herself.
Since this book is so heavy on Instagram, I’m so glad it had passages talking about some of the harm, about how things can’t really be trusted on social media, and we see that firsthand as Max cannot be trusted because she doesn’t exist. And Kat knows there are consequences if things get out but, like a typical teenager, she thinks it’ll be okay and she’ll be able to smooth them over.
Social media is something that has taken over lives, but I rarely ever see it written about in books, especially not this way. It was a great read, I was super interested throughout the book, and each character is uniquely themselves, in the best way. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone who is also obsessed with social media, but I feel like most teens and young adults can learn some lessons and truly enjoy the story.