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A review by amaldae
Dirty London by Kelley York
3.0
(April 4th, 2016)
So, erm... I may have stayed up until 6 a.m. in my need to finish a book... again. *blush*
This one is a pretty standard coming-out YA contemporary, though more focused on the main character and her relationships during her last year of high school than actually coming out. Where it sets itself apart from the rest is that a) it's kind of not badly written at all and b) its protagonist is actually a fully developed character who is just fine with who she is - so instead of completely unnecessary angst, most of the conflict results from her last-minute attempts at making her time in a closed-minded school community matter, at least to herself.
I LOVED London. She isn't perfect, her family is far from it, but they try. There's nothing artificial about their love of each other, or their frustrations either, for that matter. London is perhaps one of the most relatable protagonists I've ever encountered in this genre, and her relationship with her little sister is so true to life my heart aches.
What didn't work for me, then, is that the book isn't content with simply portraying ordinary family drama - what befalls London in school when she decides not to blend in any more occasionally feels a bit overdone. It's even acknowledged multiple times in the narrative that some of it feels taken straight out of a cheap teen movie. If it really is a common HS experience, I really can't say anything other than I'm sorry; but personally, I would mostly recognize it from half-assed stereotypes.
By the end, that actually becomes quite a problem. The story itself is a nice, feel-good, everyday sort of story. It's a shame that it has to fit itself into a ready-made mold to create additional tension (and I don't mean just what L's bullies make her endure, I mean the entire structure of the novel and how it's fitted against her after-school drama club activities and the play they're making - it's just been done so many times). The whole thing would have felt so much more organic had it just, ehm, been what it was.
Maybe all that energy would have been better directed at developing the romance, which as it stands, is sadly rather bland. I appreciate that it wasn't sudden and all-consuming - York seems pretty aware of the pitfalls of the genre she's writing in - but having London remark time after time how she really can't read Amber honestly feels a tad lazy. Since A doesn't get half the character development as London, or even her mother, does, it's hard to care about them maybe getting together. I would be lying if I said I hadn't expected more based on how true-to-life most of the other relationships feel in the book.
Also, what's up with this shit when they do get together (again, not that there's a lot of conflict in this particular relationship - this really isn't a romance novel): 'Or we could sleep in my bed.' She says it quickly, in a single rush of breath. When I look at Amber, her cheeks are red. I’ve seen her angry, I’ve seen her upset, and a variety of other emotions. Embarrassed, though? Nervous?"
Followed by this gem:
"There is, oddly enough, nothing sexual about it. Intimate, yes. Sexual... not so much. I just want to touch her."
I mean, they're only 18! Of course nothing as crude as sexual desire could taint their beautiful, virginal love!
Oh, YA, secretly I'm just so over some of your quirks.
But overall, it does exactly what it sets out to do with surprising honesty and nuance. (BTW, I don't necessarily agree that there is bi-erasure in this novel - I think London had pretty good reasons for assuming what she did, and I really didn't see her assuming much to begin with. Not that this changes the fact that no one explicitly identifies as bi.although I think there's a pretty strong case to be made about that in Amber
I had a few niggles with it, but based on York's acknowledgements and what she says she wanted to do with this story, I'd say she pretty much nailed it for the target audience. I enjoyed it a lot and wish there was more quality queer girl fluff out there - this was nice now, but would have been sorely needed in my life some years ago - but at the same time, I'm pretty excited to check out the author's darker works.
So, erm... I may have stayed up until 6 a.m. in my need to finish a book... again. *blush*
This one is a pretty standard coming-out YA contemporary, though more focused on the main character and her relationships during her last year of high school than actually coming out. Where it sets itself apart from the rest is that a) it's kind of not badly written at all and b) its protagonist is actually a fully developed character who is just fine with who she is - so instead of completely unnecessary angst, most of the conflict results from her last-minute attempts at making her time in a closed-minded school community matter, at least to herself.
I LOVED London. She isn't perfect, her family is far from it, but they try. There's nothing artificial about their love of each other, or their frustrations either, for that matter. London is perhaps one of the most relatable protagonists I've ever encountered in this genre, and her relationship with her little sister is so true to life my heart aches.
What didn't work for me, then, is that the book isn't content with simply portraying ordinary family drama - what befalls London in school when she decides not to blend in any more occasionally feels a bit overdone. It's even acknowledged multiple times in the narrative that some of it feels taken straight out of a cheap teen movie. If it really is a common HS experience, I really can't say anything other than I'm sorry; but personally, I would mostly recognize it from half-assed stereotypes.
By the end, that actually becomes quite a problem. The story itself is a nice, feel-good, everyday sort of story. It's a shame that it has to fit itself into a ready-made mold to create additional tension (and I don't mean just what L's bullies make her endure, I mean the entire structure of the novel and how it's fitted against her after-school drama club activities and the play they're making - it's just been done so many times). The whole thing would have felt so much more organic had it just, ehm, been what it was.
Maybe all that energy would have been better directed at developing the romance, which as it stands, is sadly rather bland. I appreciate that it wasn't sudden and all-consuming - York seems pretty aware of the pitfalls of the genre she's writing in - but having London remark time after time how she really can't read Amber honestly feels a tad lazy. Since A doesn't get half the character development as London, or even her mother, does, it's hard to care about them maybe getting together. I would be lying if I said I hadn't expected more based on how true-to-life most of the other relationships feel in the book.
Followed by this gem:
"There is, oddly enough, nothing sexual about it. Intimate, yes. Sexual... not so much. I just want to touch her."
I mean, they're only 18! Of course nothing as crude as sexual desire could taint their beautiful, virginal love!
Oh, YA, secretly I'm just so over some of your quirks.
But overall, it does exactly what it sets out to do with surprising honesty and nuance. (BTW, I don't necessarily agree that there is bi-erasure in this novel - I think London had pretty good reasons for assuming what she did, and I really didn't see her assuming much to begin with. Not that this changes the fact that no one explicitly identifies as bi.
I had a few niggles with it, but based on York's acknowledgements and what she says she wanted to do with this story, I'd say she pretty much nailed it for the target audience. I enjoyed it a lot and wish there was more quality queer girl fluff out there - this was nice now, but would have been sorely needed in my life some years ago - but at the same time, I'm pretty excited to check out the author's darker works.