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thepetitepunk 's review for:
Bruised
by Tanya Boteju
Bruised redefines strength.
Do not be fooled by the gorgeous, pretty pink cover—this is not just a fun book about roller derby. As our main character Daya deals with the death of her parents while also trying to find a place to belong, Bruised tackles heavy themes of grief, self-harm, friendship, and family. This book is great at delving into deep and often unpleasant emotions. I thought the themes of teamwork and sportsmanship was woven nicely into the other themes of family, friendship, and belonging.
Bruised also has a wonderful set of characters (there were almost too many for me to keep track of, but that wasn’t a big issue). There is a wide variety of personalities from people from all sorts of backgrounds. We get anything from emotionally tough and angry characters to overly supportive relatives who just happen to have mini pride flags sitting around when the time was right to celebrate. I really enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, as they were all so intriguing and distinct.
While I typically almost always read YA, I’ve found that I am liking romance plots in YA books that aren’t specifically in romance genre less appealing. As always, I enjoyed seeing a queer relationship (there were actually multiple queer relationships here!) in fiction, but the central romance here felt like it was thrown in towards the second half of the book. I wish it was built up a bit more because it almost felt a bit random to me. It was definitely hinted at in earlier chapters, but I would have liked to see more of Daya working through these emotions before things blew up. I wouldn’t have minded if this book was just about grief and what it means to belong, without some sort of romance.
The other thing I would have changed was how Daya’s self-harm was addressed. To be clear, this issue was addressed. But the book’s first line is an introduction to Daya’s self-harm, and the title of the book is also a reference to this. Self-harm is prevalent throughout the book, so I thought it was going to be a much bigger deal when it was addressed by other characters. I don’t think it was necessarily taken lightly, per say, but it felt like such a big part of the book that I wanted its conclusion to be fleshed out a bit more.
I would recommend Bruised to readers who enjoy YA contemporary fiction that is on the heavier side. If you like authentic, messy, and emotionally-challenged characters who tend to hide their true feelings, this one is for you.
TWs: self-harm, death of parents (car accident in the past), grief
✧ ✧ ✧
≪reading 31 books for 31 days of july≫
╰┈➤ 1. the ones we're meant to find by joan he
╰┈➤ 2. rise to the sun by leah johnson
╰┈➤ 3. some girls do by jennifer dugan
╰┈➤ 4. a heart in a body in the world by deb caletti
╰┈➤ 5. you've reached sam by dustin thao
╰┈➤ 6. radio silence by alice oseman
╰┈➤ 7. swimming in the dark by tomasz jedrowski
╰┈➤ 8. bruised by tanya boteju
Do not be fooled by the gorgeous, pretty pink cover—this is not just a fun book about roller derby. As our main character Daya deals with the death of her parents while also trying to find a place to belong, Bruised tackles heavy themes of grief, self-harm, friendship, and family. This book is great at delving into deep and often unpleasant emotions. I thought the themes of teamwork and sportsmanship was woven nicely into the other themes of family, friendship, and belonging.
Bruised also has a wonderful set of characters (there were almost too many for me to keep track of, but that wasn’t a big issue). There is a wide variety of personalities from people from all sorts of backgrounds. We get anything from emotionally tough and angry characters to overly supportive relatives who just happen to have mini pride flags sitting around when the time was right to celebrate. I really enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, as they were all so intriguing and distinct.
While I typically almost always read YA, I’ve found that I am liking romance plots in YA books that aren’t specifically in romance genre less appealing. As always, I enjoyed seeing a queer relationship (there were actually multiple queer relationships here!) in fiction, but the central romance here felt like it was thrown in towards the second half of the book. I wish it was built up a bit more because it almost felt a bit random to me. It was definitely hinted at in earlier chapters, but I would have liked to see more of Daya working through these emotions before things blew up. I wouldn’t have minded if this book was just about grief and what it means to belong, without some sort of romance.
The other thing I would have changed was how Daya’s self-harm was addressed. To be clear, this issue was addressed. But the book’s first line is an introduction to Daya’s self-harm, and the title of the book is also a reference to this. Self-harm is prevalent throughout the book, so I thought it was going to be a much bigger deal when it was addressed by other characters. I don’t think it was necessarily taken lightly, per say, but it felt like such a big part of the book that I wanted its conclusion to be fleshed out a bit more.
I would recommend Bruised to readers who enjoy YA contemporary fiction that is on the heavier side. If you like authentic, messy, and emotionally-challenged characters who tend to hide their true feelings, this one is for you.
TWs: self-harm, death of parents (car accident in the past), grief
✧ ✧ ✧
≪reading 31 books for 31 days of july≫
╰┈➤ 1. the ones we're meant to find by joan he
╰┈➤ 2. rise to the sun by leah johnson
╰┈➤ 3. some girls do by jennifer dugan
╰┈➤ 4. a heart in a body in the world by deb caletti
╰┈➤ 5. you've reached sam by dustin thao
╰┈➤ 6. radio silence by alice oseman
╰┈➤ 7. swimming in the dark by tomasz jedrowski
╰┈➤ 8. bruised by tanya boteju