A review by yesenianavaa
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

2.0

I've read a lot of young adult novels, but this definitely felt the most like its genre. Gaby is smart, perceptive, and kind. She is a strong character, but she gets lost in the plethora of topics that the author is trying to address. Quintero talks about rape culture, abortion, overbearing mothers, misogyny, self-love, familial relationships, teen pregnancy, queerness, and a bunch of other things that a lot of times I just felt like I was listening to someone rant. This book is labeled as a coming of age, but its outright politicalness reminds me of what an adult thinks a college student sounds like and then lazily just taking a few years off the character. Yes, I obviously agree with a lot of the things was saying, but it struck me as odd that Gaby already was "woke". There wasn't a lot of room for growth in this department that would have made this feel more authentic. Also, she goes on a long rant where she expresses her frustrations that people don't realize she's Mexican. But like sorry dude. I don't feel bad for the light skinned girl for her passing privilege. Girls like this always want to talk about how their ethnic identity is always being challenged, yet when you look at mass media and visual representations of Mexican( and latin american) people, they are the face for everything. Also, none of the other characters were fully fledged out. I seriously forgot that her mom was pregnant. It also didn't feel like Cindy even had her baby. So many people's story lines were brought up and then relegated to the background, only coming up sporadically and randomly.