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amybibliophile 's review for:
Fight Like a Girl
by Sheena Kamal
Thank you to Hot Key Books & Bonnier Books for an advanced reader copy of Fight Like A Girl. This honest review is my own and by no means influenced by the publisher in any way.
This was not one of my usual books that I would have sat on my shelves at home but I am SO glad I have read it! At only 200+ pages it is a short one but it packs an almighty punch! (See what I did there?)
Trisha hasn't had a great upbringing, being Trinidadian living in Canada the only two things that matter in her life is Muay Thai and Ma. Her Dad tends to float in and out of their lives as he still lives in Trinidad with his 'other family'.
Trisha's Ma and Dad have a very complicated relationship which usually involves her mother covering up a lot of bruises. She doesn't know why she stays with him. One night driving back home from a restaurant in the pouring rain with Ma, Trisha sees her father too late and plows him down with the car, killing him instantly. From that moment things start to get weird around here...
All Trisha wants to do is fight in the ring, she pushes herself way past her limits and has determination of steel. Her home life is abusive and very unsupported, surrounded by strong women she starts to notice subtle changes in their behavior and stories start to slip, especially when Ma's new boyfriend moves in so close to her fathers death and she finds her fathers mobile phone in his bag.
So jam-packed with action this book is a wild one. I couldn't help but feel I wanted to nurture Trisha as she seems to have such a hard exterior but throughout we see some of the facade fall, with a young father-figureless girl in need of some security and real affection from her mother. Fight Like A Girl highlights how families can be dysfunctional but also how we find 'family' with others that are not blood-relatives. I think this book would make an amazing movie and wouldn't be surprised if I saw it on the big screen in the coming years.
This was not one of my usual books that I would have sat on my shelves at home but I am SO glad I have read it! At only 200+ pages it is a short one but it packs an almighty punch! (See what I did there?)
Trisha hasn't had a great upbringing, being Trinidadian living in Canada the only two things that matter in her life is Muay Thai and Ma. Her Dad tends to float in and out of their lives as he still lives in Trinidad with his 'other family'.
Trisha's Ma and Dad have a very complicated relationship which usually involves her mother covering up a lot of bruises. She doesn't know why she stays with him. One night driving back home from a restaurant in the pouring rain with Ma, Trisha sees her father too late and plows him down with the car, killing him instantly. From that moment things start to get weird around here...
All Trisha wants to do is fight in the ring, she pushes herself way past her limits and has determination of steel. Her home life is abusive and very unsupported, surrounded by strong women she starts to notice subtle changes in their behavior and stories start to slip, especially when Ma's new boyfriend moves in so close to her fathers death and she finds her fathers mobile phone in his bag.
So jam-packed with action this book is a wild one. I couldn't help but feel I wanted to nurture Trisha as she seems to have such a hard exterior but throughout we see some of the facade fall, with a young father-figureless girl in need of some security and real affection from her mother. Fight Like A Girl highlights how families can be dysfunctional but also how we find 'family' with others that are not blood-relatives. I think this book would make an amazing movie and wouldn't be surprised if I saw it on the big screen in the coming years.