Scan barcode
A review by caedocyon
Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
2.0
Ok, I finished it. I mostly managed by skimming a bit, which made the dialogue and general writing style more bearable. The nifty thing about this book is the representation: latin@ queer kids, being kicked out, making your own family, some genderqueer/trans representation. So maybe it's worthwhile for you if those are things you are desperate for. But you'll also have to spend a lot of time reading lists of things the characters think are cool ("She tells me more specific things she's interested in, such as sailing, scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, swimming, and camping. And she's fascinated with Cuba, zoology and anthropology.") and people buying improbable cars on tight budgets, so I can't recommend it without reservations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been trying to find this one for so long and finally bought it. I was looking forward to it, but first impression? Unreadable. Too fast, the dialogue is incredibly bad, the school administrators are hard to believe, the relationship is soppy as hell (maybe realistic for high schoolers, but not very enjoyable to read) and the long italicized flashbacks? Ughhhhh. I was also thrown by the way Tazer is introduced, but that's more YMMV.
At first I wondered if I had accidentally bought the wrong edition (apparently there are two versions, one YA and one more adult---which probably explains the name change of the main character), but this review: http://lesbrary.com/tag/mayra-lazara-dole/ says that they're very similar but the new one has been tightened up. So... Yeah. In light of all the positive reviews I'll probably return to this at some point, but right now I'm suffering secondhand embarrassment for the author. (8-5-13)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been trying to find this one for so long and finally bought it. I was looking forward to it, but first impression? Unreadable. Too fast, the dialogue is incredibly bad, the school administrators are hard to believe, the relationship is soppy as hell (maybe realistic for high schoolers, but not very enjoyable to read) and the long italicized flashbacks? Ughhhhh. I was also thrown by the way Tazer is introduced, but that's more YMMV.
At first I wondered if I had accidentally bought the wrong edition (apparently there are two versions, one YA and one more adult---which probably explains the name change of the main character), but this review: http://lesbrary.com/tag/mayra-lazara-dole/ says that they're very similar but the new one has been tightened up. So... Yeah. In light of all the positive reviews I'll probably return to this at some point, but right now I'm suffering secondhand embarrassment for the author. (8-5-13)