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A review by mushroomjess
Where I Live by Brenda Rufener
2.0
This was not a good read for me and I almost didn't finish it.
While I appreciated the topic of teen homelessness (it was why I read the book in the first place), it never felt like Linden's homelessness was the main issue - there was so many other things going on in the book, ranging from romance to racism to domestic violence. I don't think any of these issues were given the time/depth needed.
On top of that, the writing is all over the place, making it difficult to understand what's going on at times. The characters fell kind of flat for me, and a lot of the dialogue seemed unrealistic. Other parts just made me cringe - "He slithers out of his jacket like the rock-star, sexy gentleman that he always acts like..."
There were also several parts of the novel that I found problematic.
First - the serious bullying between Ham and Toby, for which there are ZERO repercussions. Ham tapes Toby to a toilet and dyes his hair/face, and Toby LITERALLY TRIES TO PIN HAM TO THE SIDE A WALL WITH HIS TRUCK, almost killing him. And then, Toby just has a complete change of character and they start being friends?? None of that makes sense or is okay.
Second - It seems like Linden is made out to be the villain in a domestic violence situation. Seung (and it seems like others too) actually blame her for kissing Reed AFTER it's been announced to the school that he has a history of abuse. This is just never discussed again in the novel, and Seung and Linden get together and everything is fine. This normalization of victim blaming is not okay.
AND THEN - people knew Linden was homeless but didn't do anything to help her?? Surely teachers at the school have an obligation to do something. I also didn't appreciate how Seung was angry/ignored Linden for not telling him she was homeless.
There are so many other things too but I just don't have the energy to go into them all. One more quick thing though - Linden witnessed her mother get brutally murdered. She should be affected by this. There should be more than a few lines of her remembering her mother, but she seems to be more concerned about Sexy Seung.
I think the themes explored in Where I Live are so so important, but the way they were written just didn't seem realistic to me, and because of this, their importance was dulled.
While I appreciated the topic of teen homelessness (it was why I read the book in the first place), it never felt like Linden's homelessness was the main issue - there was so many other things going on in the book, ranging from romance to racism to domestic violence. I don't think any of these issues were given the time/depth needed.
On top of that, the writing is all over the place, making it difficult to understand what's going on at times. The characters fell kind of flat for me, and a lot of the dialogue seemed unrealistic. Other parts just made me cringe - "He slithers out of his jacket like the rock-star, sexy gentleman that he always acts like..."
There were also several parts of the novel that I found problematic.
Spoiler
First - the serious bullying between Ham and Toby, for which there are ZERO repercussions. Ham tapes Toby to a toilet and dyes his hair/face, and Toby LITERALLY TRIES TO PIN HAM TO THE SIDE A WALL WITH HIS TRUCK, almost killing him. And then, Toby just has a complete change of character and they start being friends?? None of that makes sense or is okay.
Second - It seems like Linden is made out to be the villain in a domestic violence situation. Seung (and it seems like others too) actually blame her for kissing Reed AFTER it's been announced to the school that he has a history of abuse. This is just never discussed again in the novel, and Seung and Linden get together and everything is fine. This normalization of victim blaming is not okay.
AND THEN - people knew Linden was homeless but didn't do anything to help her?? Surely teachers at the school have an obligation to do something. I also didn't appreciate how Seung was angry/ignored Linden for not telling him she was homeless.
There are so many other things too but I just don't have the energy to go into them all. One more quick thing though - Linden witnessed her mother get brutally murdered. She should be affected by this. There should be more than a few lines of her remembering her mother, but she seems to be more concerned about Sexy Seung.
I think the themes explored in Where I Live are so so important, but the way they were written just didn't seem realistic to me, and because of this, their importance was dulled.