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demiotubaga 's review for:
Not Here to Be Liked
by Michelle Quach
I'm giving this book a 4 and I thought it was a great read overall. I do though low-key think that the Bok Tok Girlies were overhyping the academic rivals-lovers aspect of the book the rest of it was very good.
Feminism
I really did enjoy the feminism discussions in the book and how we had a flawed main character who wasn't completely despicable (because yes it is possible to have a flawed main character who isn't just straight-up evil other authors should take note of that) and I really enjoyed her journey with feminism and the complexities that come with the topic. I guess for me it was kind of refreshing to read a book that centred on a romance that didn't center on straight white women and completely ignore intersectionality. While its portrayal of feminism isn't perfect by any means I do still think young girls could learn from this book about how to critically think about feminism and not really take things at face value. I kinda wished they didn't brush over what could have happened to Natalie a the party, to me that was a really striking moment, Eliza saving Natalie from what could have happened to her but I felt as though they kind of brushed past it. There was definitely an opportunity to talk about SA in a high school setting but I understand if that's not the vibe that Quach was going for.
Romance
Now, for the romance aspects of this book. First of all, I would not categorize this book as romance because to me the feminism aspect is really what the book is all about and the romance kind of takes a back seat in the plot to highlight other things in the story and of course I didn't mind that at all I really liked Quach was doing but that's just not how I heard other people describing the book. Second of all, I'm sure if I like completely buy the relationship between Len and Eliza. Like yeah I know it's a high school romance and teenagers are really shallow but really you couldn't add just like a little more development on the blooming of their romance. However, I did think there were some cute moments between Len and Eliza like the scene at the baseball game when she just kisses him out of nowhere like I was genuinely surprised when she did that and I loved it so much. Third of all, the book is also really funny to me like there were so many moments where I would laugh out loud because what was going on was so funny to me. One of my favourite Eliza moments is when she dumps out her backpack full of tampons in front of the whole school during morning announcements like the girl has a lot of guts and I really liked her.
Overall, I thought this book was pretty great while there was room for improvement (there usually is) I definitely recommend picking up this book!
Feminism
I really did enjoy the feminism discussions in the book and how we had a flawed main character who wasn't completely despicable (because yes it is possible to have a flawed main character who isn't just straight-up evil other authors should take note of that) and I really enjoyed her journey with feminism and the complexities that come with the topic. I guess for me it was kind of refreshing to read a book that centred on a romance that didn't center on straight white women and completely ignore intersectionality. While its portrayal of feminism isn't perfect by any means I do still think young girls could learn from this book about how to critically think about feminism and not really take things at face value. I kinda wished they didn't brush over what could have happened to Natalie a the party, to me that was a really striking moment, Eliza saving Natalie from what could have happened to her but I felt as though they kind of brushed past it. There was definitely an opportunity to talk about SA in a high school setting but I understand if that's not the vibe that Quach was going for.
Romance
Now, for the romance aspects of this book. First of all, I would not categorize this book as romance because to me the feminism aspect is really what the book is all about and the romance kind of takes a back seat in the plot to highlight other things in the story and of course I didn't mind that at all I really liked Quach was doing but that's just not how I heard other people describing the book. Second of all, I'm sure if I like completely buy the relationship between Len and Eliza. Like yeah I know it's a high school romance and teenagers are really shallow but really you couldn't add just like a little more development on the blooming of their romance. However, I did think there were some cute moments between Len and Eliza like the scene at the baseball game when she just kisses him out of nowhere like I was genuinely surprised when she did that and I loved it so much. Third of all, the book is also really funny to me like there were so many moments where I would laugh out loud because what was going on was so funny to me. One of my favourite Eliza moments is when she dumps out her backpack full of tampons in front of the whole school during morning announcements like the girl has a lot of guts and I really liked her.
Overall, I thought this book was pretty great while there was room for improvement (there usually is) I definitely recommend picking up this book!