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A review by lapis
The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I was gonna bump up this book regardless of how I felt at the end for including Content Warnings, but now I can't do that because it already at a five-star rating. OH NO!
Yamilet is a closeted lesbian who switches to a private, Catholic School, to help take care of her brother, who is constantly getting into fights.
Yamilet's dad was deported years ago for attending a protest, but they keep in touch.
Yamilet's mother works at a call center, and has a second job running an etsy store (Yamilet helps with this throughout the book) full of Mexican Beadwork. (Look up pictures if you aren't familiar with the practice, they're BEAUTIFUL!) Yamilet is positive her mother will throw her out if she discovers Yamilet is a lesbian, because there's constant homophobic jokes. I promise it gets better.
But anyway, Yamilet meets a Chinese girl, Bo, who is openly gay and constantly getting in trouble for responding to microaggressions (and you know, being gay).
Then Yamilet finds out her brother is queer too, and she starts fake-dating his boyfriend so they're both safe.
But this book moves a bit slow. I wasn't intending to finish it last night, I was at 40% and wanted to finish the book (Libby was guilting me because someone else wanted to read it lol) so I read a couple chapters, and the speed really increases around the time Yamilet goes to a homecoming party, and is constantly in an oblivious lesbian "no way does she like me" sort of thing. It's adorable.
This book gets ROUGH, I was personally triggered by a suicide attempt because I've been in Mental Health Inpatient for an attempt before. If you don't know, it kind of sucks to be there! (It does not get that deep into it, this was just my problem).
But it gets better, and it gets FLUFFY by the end.
Come for the concept, stay for the fluff and comedy!
Yamilet is a closeted lesbian who switches to a private, Catholic School, to help take care of her brother, who is constantly getting into fights.
Yamilet's dad was deported years ago for attending a protest, but they keep in touch.
Yamilet's mother works at a call center, and has a second job running an etsy store (Yamilet helps with this throughout the book) full of Mexican Beadwork. (Look up pictures if you aren't familiar with the practice, they're BEAUTIFUL!) Yamilet is positive her mother will throw her out if she discovers Yamilet is a lesbian, because there's constant homophobic jokes. I promise it gets better.
But anyway, Yamilet meets a Chinese girl, Bo, who is openly gay and constantly getting in trouble for responding to microaggressions (and you know, being gay).
Then Yamilet finds out her brother is queer too, and she starts fake-dating his boyfriend so they're both safe.
But this book moves a bit slow. I wasn't intending to finish it last night, I was at 40% and wanted to finish the book (Libby was guilting me because someone else wanted to read it lol) so I read a couple chapters, and the speed really increases around the time Yamilet goes to a homecoming party, and is constantly in an oblivious lesbian "no way does she like me" sort of thing. It's adorable.
This book gets ROUGH,
But it gets better, and it gets FLUFFY by the end.
Come for the concept, stay for the fluff and comedy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Bullying
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Police brutality
I probably forgot some, but the book starts with a list of Content Warnings.