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A review by starbeans
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
cw: child abuse, sexual abuse, heavy drug use, alcoholism, transphobia
I… can't really rate this.
Sneha is a first-generation Indian American woman whose parents have gone back to India, leaving her alone in a foreign country at just 17 years of age. Sneha massively struggles — with her existence as an immigrant, with her queerness, and, honestly, with her gender.
I liked how it handled a lot of its very complex themes. There's a huge amount of friendship, of warmth, of how differently topics surrounding mental illness are still handled throughout the world. Of how differently trauma can resurface in different people, or in the same person at different times. The communist themes spoke to me, but what unfortunately did not, was the transphobia. It got better the longer the book went on, but there was definitely some unresolved gender-questioning going on in Sneha that felt like it was just brushed aside, at least for me.
Still, after having my doubts about this for the first third, I'd recommend reading this!
I… can't really rate this.
Sneha is a first-generation Indian American woman whose parents have gone back to India, leaving her alone in a foreign country at just 17 years of age. Sneha massively struggles — with her existence as an immigrant, with her queerness, and, honestly, with her gender.
I liked how it handled a lot of its very complex themes. There's a huge amount of friendship, of warmth, of how differently topics surrounding mental illness are still handled throughout the world. Of how differently trauma can resurface in different people, or in the same person at different times. The communist themes spoke to me, but what unfortunately did not, was the transphobia. It got better the longer the book went on, but there was definitely some unresolved gender-questioning going on in Sneha that felt like it was just brushed aside, at least for me.
Still, after having my doubts about this for the first third, I'd recommend reading this!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Alcoholism