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A review by yikesbmg
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
4.0
Ok I haven’t read YA in a long time. All the stuff I read in high school was about basically white well-off heterosexual girls, so I loved this book for simply having an interesting, distinct plot. It touches lightly on interracial families and religion, and heavily on exploring sexuality, sibling dynamics, and mental health.
I don’t know how accurate the representation of bipolar disorder is, but was happy that Lion wasn’t portrayed to be a caricature of someone struggling to figure out their mental health. The author did a good enough job of incorporating texting/phones/the digital world into the character’s’ lives, and I feel like I got a sense of LA (though not sure if it’s accurate, because I’ve never been). The portrayal of social pressure and bullying in schools was realistic and honest, though the while the tough conversations about racism with friends and fucking up around parents was less so. Even though the latter was more idealistic to me, it’s still good to read something and see alternatives to how sympathetic and understanding parents might be. This is also a work of fiction so I don’t even know if it needs to be realistic when it comes to fiction or parent-kid relationships or anything else.
In any case, this was a great book, I want a sequel, and I intend to recommend it to my little cousins and sister.
I don’t know how accurate the representation of bipolar disorder is, but was happy that Lion wasn’t portrayed to be a caricature of someone struggling to figure out their mental health. The author did a good enough job of incorporating texting/phones/the digital world into the character’s’ lives, and I feel like I got a sense of LA (though not sure if it’s accurate, because I’ve never been). The portrayal of social pressure and bullying in schools was realistic and honest, though the while the tough conversations about racism with friends and fucking up around parents was less so. Even though the latter was more idealistic to me, it’s still good to read something and see alternatives to how sympathetic and understanding parents might be. This is also a work of fiction so I don’t even know if it needs to be realistic when it comes to fiction or parent-kid relationships or anything else.
In any case, this was a great book, I want a sequel, and I intend to recommend it to my little cousins and sister.