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A review by abigailbat
Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
2.0
Everything changed for Laura the day her teacher read her love letter out loud. Laura's been dating Marlena for two years on the sly and suddenly the whole world knows she's a tortillera, a girl who loves girls. Laura's expelled from school and her mom kicks her out. Then Marlena is shipped off to Puerto Rico to marry a boy. But although she's hurting, big-hearted Laura's got a support network to hold her up while she figures things out. And eventually she'll figure out who she is and who will love and understand her down to the bone.
While I loved getting a unique perspective and couldn't help but like the vivacious Laura, there was too much telling and not enough showing. We're told that Laura's an environmentalist into making her own clothes and watching foreign films, but we never see any of that happening. There's a huge cast of characters in this novel and some random events that don't add to the story. I would have liked it better if it had been 150 pages shorter. That said, the Miami setting and cast of diverse characters make it stand out and I hope to see more from Ms. Dole.
While I loved getting a unique perspective and couldn't help but like the vivacious Laura, there was too much telling and not enough showing. We're told that Laura's an environmentalist into making her own clothes and watching foreign films, but we never see any of that happening. There's a huge cast of characters in this novel and some random events that don't add to the story. I would have liked it better if it had been 150 pages shorter. That said, the Miami setting and cast of diverse characters make it stand out and I hope to see more from Ms. Dole.