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sarahmreads 's review for:
Fight Like a Girl
by Sheena Kamal
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Trisha is trying to cope with the death of her father, who was killed while she was practicing driving with her family. This includes diving headfirst into her passion of Muay Thai boxing in her Canadian town. Through this time while also navigating her senior year of high school, Trisha starts to realize more things about herself and her family, including some dark secrets that threaten to bubble to the surface.
This story was definitely intense, and I liked it for that reason. You get some real slice of life when it comes to the training that a boxer goes through and some of the pressures, including meeting weight as well as the vigorous training that is done daily. Even as the story is in Trisha's point of view, a lot of the moments become raw and aggressive under her lens. That being said, there were a lot of moments where I felt she could be a slightly unreliable narrator with it being mentioned she might have several concussions, which is extremely concerning, especially at the end of the novel.
There was also a mystery element that I actually really liked and felt pretty well-paced. The author gives you enough space between each clue to ponder on it while more stuff in Trisha's life occurs, which is really nice and gives a breath of fresh air. I will say I didn't really expect who the culprit was in the end, but it still was interesting to read about at the end.
In terms of plot and execution, there were a lot of things that were confusing to me. First, there was some kind of paranormal element to this that felt kind of unnecessary, such as the inclusion of a "soucouyant," which is like a Caribbean old woman equivalent of a vampire, and weird hallucinations/dreams. I know the purpose of it was to include elements of Trisha's culture into the story, but it felt very surface level and more could have been done to include it more cohesively into the narrative. There were also some terms and slang that were thrown around that I wasn't too comfortable with, including the term "Lunchtime Desi," but as a white person I cannot speak to the full extension of this term. I also cannot fully speak to the Trinidad representation as a white person, and highly recommend looking for a reviewer from such representation to get a full grasp.
I do wish that some of the characters from the gym were featured a lot more, especially the girls that Trisha fights with, Amanda and Noor. They had potential but were mainly thrown to the side a lot more than I would have liked. I also wasn't a huge fan of the romance subplot, especially since there wasn't much done with the love interest in the first place.
I will add that there is a LOT of physical and emotional abuse in the story, some of which I think had potential to be more impactful, but I don't think it was the best that I've seen in terms of representing it. Trisha basically acknowledges it, but doesn't seem really fully impacted by it the way I would expect her to. Like "yeah her mom almost broke her arm, whatever," kind of mindset, which is a bit unnerving.
Fight Like a Girl is a fast-paced read full of action and mystery, but sadly falls short on execution.
I received a copy of this story as an e-ARC from both NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This story was definitely intense, and I liked it for that reason. You get some real slice of life when it comes to the training that a boxer goes through and some of the pressures, including meeting weight as well as the vigorous training that is done daily. Even as the story is in Trisha's point of view, a lot of the moments become raw and aggressive under her lens. That being said, there were a lot of moments where I felt she could be a slightly unreliable narrator with it being mentioned she might have several concussions, which is extremely concerning, especially at the end of the novel.
There was also a mystery element that I actually really liked and felt pretty well-paced. The author gives you enough space between each clue to ponder on it while more stuff in Trisha's life occurs, which is really nice and gives a breath of fresh air. I will say I didn't really expect who the culprit was in the end, but it still was interesting to read about at the end.
In terms of plot and execution, there were a lot of things that were confusing to me. First, there was some kind of paranormal element to this that felt kind of unnecessary, such as the inclusion of a "soucouyant," which is like a Caribbean old woman equivalent of a vampire, and weird hallucinations/dreams. I know the purpose of it was to include elements of Trisha's culture into the story, but it felt very surface level and more could have been done to include it more cohesively into the narrative. There were also some terms and slang that were thrown around that I wasn't too comfortable with, including the term "Lunchtime Desi," but as a white person I cannot speak to the full extension of this term. I also cannot fully speak to the Trinidad representation as a white person, and highly recommend looking for a reviewer from such representation to get a full grasp.
I do wish that some of the characters from the gym were featured a lot more, especially the girls that Trisha fights with, Amanda and Noor. They had potential but were mainly thrown to the side a lot more than I would have liked. I also wasn't a huge fan of the romance subplot, especially since there wasn't much done with the love interest in the first place.
I will add that there is a LOT of physical and emotional abuse in the story, some of which I think had potential to be more impactful, but I don't think it was the best that I've seen in terms of representing it. Trisha basically acknowledges it, but doesn't seem really fully impacted by it the way I would expect her to. Like "yeah her mom almost broke her arm, whatever," kind of mindset, which is a bit unnerving.
Fight Like a Girl is a fast-paced read full of action and mystery, but sadly falls short on execution.
I received a copy of this story as an e-ARC from both NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use