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A review by reinventing_mrs
Barely Missing Everything by Matt Mendez
3.0
I’m giving this book three stars, though I’m not sure it’s a fair assessment. I had high expectations as I began reading, being a native El Pasoan myself. From the start, the story grabbed me and drew me in. I found myself “navigating” the neighborhoods with ease, laughing at the inside jokes about the city and its culture, easily understanding where the characters were coming from. I soon became critical, however, as I ran into what I perceived to be unforgivable errors in lingo, the misspellings of long-standing establishments, and incorrect accent placement. So, I have to ask myself, am I being fair to Matt Mendez? Am I expecting him to tell MY story simply because I, too, grew up in El Paso? Am I expecting his characters to act and sound like MY friends, MY family, MY El Paso?
The story line is a good one - filled with all of the drama, misgivings, and tragedy you’d expect and hope to see in a novel about two teenaged Mexican-American friends growing up in the barrio. It’s not as raw as many of the books out now - The Hate U Give, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - but it does deal with some heavy topics. It’s more about the day-to-day drama faced by the two main characters, JD and Juan, and their struggle to escape the stale air and endless cycle of nothingness in their world. Interwoven into their story are the stories of friends and family members, some who are dealing with the same struggle, some who have escaped or on the verge of escape, and some who have given in to the inevitability of being stuck.
My favorite character in the book was Fabi. A single mom, doing her best to raise a young son on her own, very much aware of her short-comings, ever observant of the disapproving looks from others, hiding behind a bad-ass facade. Fabi was the most real character for me - the best developed, the most raw.
Again, I don’t feel I am being fair to Matt Mendez or to his story. And I realize this is a YA book, but I think I wanted more from the characters - more fuerza, more sabor. In the end, I guess I did want Matt Mendez to represent the El Paso, the people, the experience that I know.
The story line is a good one - filled with all of the drama, misgivings, and tragedy you’d expect and hope to see in a novel about two teenaged Mexican-American friends growing up in the barrio. It’s not as raw as many of the books out now - The Hate U Give, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - but it does deal with some heavy topics. It’s more about the day-to-day drama faced by the two main characters, JD and Juan, and their struggle to escape the stale air and endless cycle of nothingness in their world. Interwoven into their story are the stories of friends and family members, some who are dealing with the same struggle, some who have escaped or on the verge of escape, and some who have given in to the inevitability of being stuck.
My favorite character in the book was Fabi. A single mom, doing her best to raise a young son on her own, very much aware of her short-comings, ever observant of the disapproving looks from others, hiding behind a bad-ass facade. Fabi was the most real character for me - the best developed, the most raw.
Again, I don’t feel I am being fair to Matt Mendez or to his story. And I realize this is a YA book, but I think I wanted more from the characters - more fuerza, more sabor. In the end, I guess I did want Matt Mendez to represent the El Paso, the people, the experience that I know.