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mariaslibrary's reviews
117 reviews
Elena sabe by Claudia Piñeiro
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
This was a re-read in the original Spanish as opposed to English I first read it in. Loved the book, just needed to move on to other reads as I read much slower im Spanish.
You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation by Julissa Arce
3.0
Obvious she's not an expert on the subject matter. A lot was oversimplified or missing from the conversation. Would serve as a decent very basic introduction, but when there are so many others that do it better I'm not sure why you would choose to pick up this one in particular.
I imagine she was just trying to speak only to her personal experience and as a result only spoke to her personal identity. This seemed to make it sound like latines are a monolith and resulted in some erasure of those with different racial identities and experiences than her. A little too implying that the mestizaje/ raza project was complete.
Still some of what was on the page resonated and were written in great sound bite type ways that I found myself nodding enthusiastically at times and getting heavy with my highlighter.
I think what she did best here was in the earlier portions of the book where she was sharing history. There was history that was familiar to me but I hadn't exactly placed some of the patterns or the timelines in my head to really see the full development. And it was articulated and organized well here.
I imagine she was just trying to speak only to her personal experience and as a result only spoke to her personal identity. This seemed to make it sound like latines are a monolith and resulted in some erasure of those with different racial identities and experiences than her. A little too implying that the mestizaje/ raza project was complete.
Still some of what was on the page resonated and were written in great sound bite type ways that I found myself nodding enthusiastically at times and getting heavy with my highlighter.
I think what she did best here was in the earlier portions of the book where she was sharing history. There was history that was familiar to me but I hadn't exactly placed some of the patterns or the timelines in my head to really see the full development. And it was articulated and organized well here.
Fury by Clyo Mendoza
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book at times had me feeling transfixed, confused, bewitched, frustrated, & fascinating. I couldn't stop trying to puzzle together all the poetic riddles, and connections. It was delightful fun - in a dark brooding waltz through a dream that might just be a nightmare sort of way.
This wasn't horror, but I felt myself exercising some of the same muscles I do when watching Korean horror - appreciate the art for what it is and stop trying to understand every bit of it. The mystery is sometimes half the point.
The jumping timelines and storylines sometimes made it difficult to follow, but I also got the impression that maybe disorienting (and disturbing) the reader was deliberate. I found myself writing lots of post its with notes and guesses regarding connections. The short length of the book kept me from feeling bogged down or overwhelmed by the complex storyline.
Dark tales that I already want to read again.
This wasn't horror, but I felt myself exercising some of the same muscles I do when watching Korean horror - appreciate the art for what it is and stop trying to understand every bit of it. The mystery is sometimes half the point.
The jumping timelines and storylines sometimes made it difficult to follow, but I also got the impression that maybe disorienting (and disturbing) the reader was deliberate. I found myself writing lots of post its with notes and guesses regarding connections. The short length of the book kept me from feeling bogged down or overwhelmed by the complex storyline.
Dark tales that I already want to read again.
The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts by Mary Claire Haver, MD
informative
4.25
I read this book because I felt less educated / prepared for menopause now than I did for puberty as a child. After reading this book:
1) I have both more dread. I had no idea menopause could cause such cascading medical conditions - so many of them life threatening. It feels a bit like the BORG, resistance is futile. The medical landscape is even worse than I expected
2) I am much better prepared for it. So many folks experiencing menopause are gaslit by clueless physicians and this book gives me the knowledge to both draw connections the physicians may not be aware of and to advocate for myself.
I wish that there were more tools to diagnose and treat various symptoms of menopause, but this book includes a very thorough & helpful appendix of symptoms and how to approach each. It seems anything lacking is not a problem of the book itself, but more a lack of our current medical knowledge.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that will experience menopause in their life - and don't wait until you're in menopause. Read it early so you're ready before even perimenopause starts (which can last years before menopause).
1) I have both more dread. I had no idea menopause could cause such cascading medical conditions - so many of them life threatening. It feels a bit like the BORG, resistance is futile. The medical landscape is even worse than I expected
2) I am much better prepared for it. So many folks experiencing menopause are gaslit by clueless physicians and this book gives me the knowledge to both draw connections the physicians may not be aware of and to advocate for myself.
I wish that there were more tools to diagnose and treat various symptoms of menopause, but this book includes a very thorough & helpful appendix of symptoms and how to approach each. It seems anything lacking is not a problem of the book itself, but more a lack of our current medical knowledge.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that will experience menopause in their life - and don't wait until you're in menopause. Read it early so you're ready before even perimenopause starts (which can last years before menopause).
My Chicano Heart: New and Collected Stories of Love and Other Transgressions by Fiction › Mystery & Detective › GeneralFiction / Mystery & Detective / GeneralFiction / Short Stories (single author)
- Loveable characters? No
1.75
If this hasn't been an eARC from NetGalley this would have been a DNF for me, but I felt compelled to finish it to give a proper review.
The constant themes of either villainizing women or very crudely sexually objectifying them made this book really unbearable for me. The descriptions of women's bodies in grid manners just repeated and repeated. At this point I'm legitimately concerned about the author's personal feelings towards women.
Additionally the writing seemed a bit stilted and emotionally distant. If it was only present in some stories I would assume it could be a style choice, but since it was consistent it made it tougher to connect with the characters.
There were a couple of pieces towards the end that I enjoyed. Nacho (a story with no women in it, and thus a brief reprieve from their negative portrayal) and a research piece that dissected an obituary.
I was really excited for this book. A short story collection from a Chicano author is right up my alley. But the biggest heartbreak in this collection was my own, due to just how strongly I disliked this collection.
The constant themes of either villainizing women or very crudely sexually objectifying them made this book really unbearable for me. The descriptions of women's bodies in grid manners just repeated and repeated. At this point I'm legitimately concerned about the author's personal feelings towards women.
Additionally the writing seemed a bit stilted and emotionally distant. If it was only present in some stories I would assume it could be a style choice, but since it was consistent it made it tougher to connect with the characters.
There were a couple of pieces towards the end that I enjoyed. Nacho (a story with no women in it, and thus a brief reprieve from their negative portrayal) and a research piece that dissected an obituary.
I was really excited for this book. A short story collection from a Chicano author is right up my alley. But the biggest heartbreak in this collection was my own, due to just how strongly I disliked this collection.
Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Own Voices YA is just crushing it these days. This book was such a tender coming of age love story. There's so much I loved about it.
It did start out a little slow or seemed a little long, I found myself about 60% in thinking I should really about 80% in. However, so often I read stories where the build up of the relationship goes by so fast in the book that when they encounter any challenges I don't understand why they're emotionally invested so quickly. That wasn't the case here as we really saw a romance build all summer and could really see how they were connecting more deeply over time. So I think the length and slow pace at the start really helped their relationship and emotions feel more realistic to me.
It also felt so beautiful to enjoy a book with queer and trans characters that is not just about how difficult it is to be queer and trans. We got to see queer joy and love. I loved how supportive Ander's family was of them. Ander's family members using gender neutral terms of endearment (and even insults, lol) in Spanish literally made me cry. Getting pronouns right in English is one thing but changing all the endings in Spanish seems like such an act of love for parents and abuelos to do that it really touched my heart 🩷💙
The struggle Ander had regarding their art - loving painting their cultura but not wanting to be *expected* to felt so real and there were such insightful conversations around that in the story.
I also really enjoyed the use of Spanish and Spanglish througout the book and appreciated they the author didn't just repeat the same phrase in English afterwards like I usually see. It made me seen and at home in the story. It's rare a book can make you feel like you belong. And now I'm about to cry again writing this review so maybe it's time for me to wrap this up!
(If you don't speak Spanish, you'd still get enough from the context since the Spanish is usually individual words or a sentence or less.)
It did start out a little slow or seemed a little long, I found myself about 60% in thinking I should really about 80% in. However, so often I read stories where the build up of the relationship goes by so fast in the book that when they encounter any challenges I don't understand why they're emotionally invested so quickly. That wasn't the case here as we really saw a romance build all summer and could really see how they were connecting more deeply over time. So I think the length and slow pace at the start really helped their relationship and emotions feel more realistic to me.
It also felt so beautiful to enjoy a book with queer and trans characters that is not just about how difficult it is to be queer and trans. We got to see queer joy and love. I loved how supportive Ander's family was of them. Ander's family members using gender neutral terms of endearment (and even insults, lol) in Spanish literally made me cry. Getting pronouns right in English is one thing but changing all the endings in Spanish seems like such an act of love for parents and abuelos to do that it really touched my heart 🩷💙
The struggle Ander had regarding their art - loving painting their cultura but not wanting to be *expected* to felt so real and there were such insightful conversations around that in the story.
I also really enjoyed the use of Spanish and Spanglish througout the book and appreciated they the author didn't just repeat the same phrase in English afterwards like I usually see. It made me seen and at home in the story. It's rare a book can make you feel like you belong. And now I'm about to cry again writing this review so maybe it's time for me to wrap this up!
(If you don't speak Spanish, you'd still get enough from the context since the Spanish is usually individual words or a sentence or less.)
Buenos espíritus by Camille Gomera-Tavarez
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
This was a very enjoyable collection. Some of these characters I really wanted to know more about and could have been teasers for full novel(s).
Some of the relationships were a little hard to follow (the author's hand drawn family tree still seemed confusing to me). But with a little note taking, I was able to see most of the connections and really enjoyed seeing how experiences built on top of each other. (E.g. seeing one character struggle with the lack of affection shown by their adoptive father, and in another story seeing that adoptive father had an abusive father figure themselves hence why they're not the greatest at showing the love they feel)
Some stories really stood out, but more because they were particular gems, not because the others weren't good.
I'll take a spin off novel of the peluquero, Tony from the Bárbaro chapter and another of Jorge and his visions - and another novel for each of the women Jorge saw.
I loved the authenticity of the language (in the Spanish edition). The author was very particular to make sure Dominican Spanish was used and while that made me struggle a bit since I'm more used to Mexican Spanish, it really lent to the world building and to help get a real feel for the characters.
What a wonderful debut and I hope to read more from this author.
Some of the relationships were a little hard to follow (the author's hand drawn family tree still seemed confusing to me). But with a little note taking, I was able to see most of the connections and really enjoyed seeing how experiences built on top of each other. (E.g. seeing one character struggle with the lack of affection shown by their adoptive father, and in another story seeing that adoptive father had an abusive father figure themselves hence why they're not the greatest at showing the love they feel)
Some stories really stood out, but more because they were particular gems, not because the others weren't good.
I'll take a spin off novel of the peluquero, Tony from the Bárbaro chapter and another of Jorge and his visions - and another novel for each of the women Jorge saw.
I loved the authenticity of the language (in the Spanish edition). The author was very particular to make sure Dominican Spanish was used and while that made me struggle a bit since I'm more used to Mexican Spanish, it really lent to the world building and to help get a real feel for the characters.
What a wonderful debut and I hope to read more from this author.
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro
dark
emotional
tense
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Such a stark portrait of being trapped in a body that's no longer your own. The details so clear they conveyed both beauty and horror. Even the lack of paragraphs and full blocks of justified text gave the impression of there being no relief, no possibility of escape.
Though a rather short book, set mostly of the course of a single day, I found myself unable to put it down and a growing sense of dread and our protagonist trudged forward not knowing if at anytime she would become fully helpless, trapped inside a body that doesn't respond to her commands.
With so much bitterness and resentment between the mother and daughter at the center of our story, it would be natural to dislike them, but I found empathy for them both.
Without any spoilers, I will just say that I was satisfied with the ending though like the rest of the book it was grim. It was such an uncomfortable read and yet just so good.
Though a rather short book, set mostly of the course of a single day, I found myself unable to put it down and a growing sense of dread and our protagonist trudged forward not knowing if at anytime she would become fully helpless, trapped inside a body that doesn't respond to her commands.
With so much bitterness and resentment between the mother and daughter at the center of our story, it would be natural to dislike them, but I found empathy for them both.
Without any spoilers, I will just say that I was satisfied with the ending though like the rest of the book it was grim. It was such an uncomfortable read and yet just so good.
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
This book was so unique it took a little bit for me to get into it at first. The blend of science fiction, magical realism, and Caribbean folklore took on the rhythm I was unfamiliar with but came to really appreciate and enjoy. As I struggled to focus in the beginning of the book I decided to get the audiobook as well and hybrid read. The book only got better and better. And eventually I couldn't bear to read the slow pace of an audiobook and finished the book without it so I could read through the climax. I really enjoyed this setting of both a dystopian future and a harkening back to economies of old were communities help with one another even when they have so little. I found Gros-Jeane particularly endearing despite her gruff exterior. I found Ti-Jeane's early experience with motherhood and lack of bonding & annoyance with her child to be a more honest take than we usually see on the subject. The folklore and magical realism was enchanting and drew me in. I reveled in the final showdown with the book's big bad. An epic scene worthy of the big screen. My first foray into Nalo Hopkinson