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jenny_librarian 's review for:
Don't Ask Me Where I'm From
by Jennifer De Leon
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review
3 ⭐️
Trigger warnings: racism, sexism, violence
I get what the author wanted to achieve with this, but it missed the mark.
To begin with, the summary of this book leads to believe that most of the plot will center on people finding out aboit Lili’s dad being deported. Except that’s an afterthought for the first half, and the secret getting out happens at like 70%. This book is really just a latina girl trying to fit in at a makorly white school in a rich suburbs. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wish it had been marketed as such.
But the real reason I didnt love it is the writing. This kind of teen-thought writing has been gaining in popularity recently, and I don’t love it. I find it hard to immerse myself in a story that looks like a bad fanfiction written by a 15 years old. Great if it pleases the teens, but it makes it a dozen time more difficult for me to enjoy the story.
I also have a bone to pick with the double standards here. It’s great that Lili questions and voices objections about racism, but the author only had her react to sexism when it came from white characters, though there are plenty of examples where latinx characters were sexist (and in some instances more obvious than that done by white characters). If you’re going to call out harmful behaviour, be consistent. It won’t hurt your main objective to also point out what your own culture does wrong.
Finally, talking about main objective, it got blurred in the crowd of side plots. We had Lili at school, her friendship with Jade, her dad being deported, her mom’s depression, her relationship... In a well-executed novel, all those plot lines could have worked well together. Here, it just felt murky and caused some of the secondary character to fall flat (I have ZERO sympathy for the way Jade treated her, simply because she has a boyfriend now).
I applaud the intention, but wished for a more polished product.
3 ⭐️
Trigger warnings: racism, sexism, violence
I get what the author wanted to achieve with this, but it missed the mark.
To begin with, the summary of this book leads to believe that most of the plot will center on people finding out aboit Lili’s dad being deported. Except that’s an afterthought for the first half, and the secret getting out happens at like 70%. This book is really just a latina girl trying to fit in at a makorly white school in a rich suburbs. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wish it had been marketed as such.
But the real reason I didnt love it is the writing. This kind of teen-thought writing has been gaining in popularity recently, and I don’t love it. I find it hard to immerse myself in a story that looks like a bad fanfiction written by a 15 years old. Great if it pleases the teens, but it makes it a dozen time more difficult for me to enjoy the story.
I also have a bone to pick with the double standards here. It’s great that Lili questions and voices objections about racism, but the author only had her react to sexism when it came from white characters, though there are plenty of examples where latinx characters were sexist (and in some instances more obvious than that done by white characters). If you’re going to call out harmful behaviour, be consistent. It won’t hurt your main objective to also point out what your own culture does wrong.
Finally, talking about main objective, it got blurred in the crowd of side plots. We had Lili at school, her friendship with Jade, her dad being deported, her mom’s depression, her relationship... In a well-executed novel, all those plot lines could have worked well together. Here, it just felt murky and caused some of the secondary character to fall flat (I have ZERO sympathy for the way Jade treated her, simply because she has a boyfriend now).
I applaud the intention, but wished for a more polished product.