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A review by lcrou002
Bruised by Tanya Boteju
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for providing me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review
I loved Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens so when I saw that Tanya Boteju had a new novel out, I had to read it. Bruised did not disappoint. I enjoyed the diversity in this book and appreciated that it felt natural, like a real community, not like the author was ticking boxes trying to include every character. I also really liked the roller derby scenes. I didn’t know much about the sport but I felt like I understood it after Boteju’s descriptions and I loved the sense of community I got from it.
I liked how realistic much of Diya’s internal dialogue seemed, how the reader could see her trying to change even when she was apprehensive about it. The possible downside of this is that many of the descriptions of the emotional states leading to self-harm also seemed realistic. I did not notice if this book had a trigger warning at the beginning but it really ought to. Self-harm was more prevalent in the story than I had initially expected.
My one critique was that I didn’t really like the romance or feel that it was necessary. Daya kept pushing Shanti away but she kept eagerly coming back saying she recognized many of Daya’s behaviors from her sister. But just because Shanti is used to abusive behavior doesn’t mean she should so readily forgive it in a potential romantic partner. I wish they had just become good friends, that Daya had found her place on the team and with her family and the will to work on her mental health without also finding a girlfriend.
I loved Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens so when I saw that Tanya Boteju had a new novel out, I had to read it. Bruised did not disappoint. I enjoyed the diversity in this book and appreciated that it felt natural, like a real community, not like the author was ticking boxes trying to include every character. I also really liked the roller derby scenes. I didn’t know much about the sport but I felt like I understood it after Boteju’s descriptions and I loved the sense of community I got from it.
I liked how realistic much of Diya’s internal dialogue seemed, how the reader could see her trying to change even when she was apprehensive about it. The possible downside of this is that many of the descriptions of the emotional states leading to self-harm also seemed realistic. I did not notice if this book had a trigger warning at the beginning but it really ought to. Self-harm was more prevalent in the story than I had initially expected.
My one critique was that I didn’t really like the romance or feel that it was necessary. Daya kept pushing Shanti away but she kept eagerly coming back saying she recognized many of Daya’s behaviors from her sister. But just because Shanti is used to abusive behavior doesn’t mean she should so readily forgive it in a potential romantic partner. I wish they had just become good friends, that Daya had found her place on the team and with her family and the will to work on her mental health without also finding a girlfriend.