A review by handmaderiot
Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera

3.0

There is so much to love about this book. The first third, or perhaps even half was great- I loved the characters, their interests and histories, the plot, the setting- all of it. The main downside is that the main character, Desta, is self-absorbed. This was especially irritating when the love interest, Elias, was going through some real hard shit, and Desta kept droning on and externalizing his feelings toward Elias. It's a called a friend. Or a therapist. Phone them. How does the person not directly affected by the conflict have more feelings and needs more caretaking than the person actually experiencing the conflict. Not into it. Very irritating. Now I get not all protagonists can be entirely lovable- flaws are necessary. However, in a context that is so much about the work of people/orgs from the Global North and the tensions that exist with the local people, prioritizing the feelings of the Global North person feels...wack. The second downside, which perhaps is just a me thing, is that there seemed to be a disconnect between the mannerisms and predispositions of the two characters outside the bedroom, and when they would have sex. I really think that this is an issue in the writing rather than the actions themselves. It's like the characters walk into a space, and suddenly there's a finger up someone's butt. That part is all well and good but can we get some other cues about urgency that are not just like the thumb goes from the door lock to being inside a butt. They walked in clothed and thus far they haven't been presented as having any magical powers, so what am I missing here?

The ending was quite satisfying which raises the rating by .5 to 3.5 stars.