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pekoparty's reviews
217 reviews
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay In Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli
5.0
"And once you're here, you're ready to give everything, or almost everything, to stay and play a part in the great theater of belonging."
This is an essential, accessible, short, and thoughtful book for understanding the baseline and the impact of the U.S.'s judicial and political system on children migrating into the U.S. at the U.S.-Mexican border. What children, and adults, must go through to arrive into a system that does so little to accept them. Luiselli captures her experience as a translator with a handling that prioritizes the stories of the children and families she's supported.
This is an essential, accessible, short, and thoughtful book for understanding the baseline and the impact of the U.S.'s judicial and political system on children migrating into the U.S. at the U.S.-Mexican border. What children, and adults, must go through to arrive into a system that does so little to accept them. Luiselli captures her experience as a translator with a handling that prioritizes the stories of the children and families she's supported.
Jane: A Murder by Maggie Nelson
3.0
I didn't find myself particularly attached to Jane, and maybe that's the point. There's so much yet so little to go on. The last page was one of the best last pages I've read.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
4.0
Did I tell my fellow booksellers that this book was giving "Paper Towns" by John Green? Did Casey McQuiston ABSOLUTELY CALL ME OUT FOR THINKING SO?
This book was everything fun about a teen rom-com. McQuiston modernizes the male-gazey parts of a Molly Ringwald movie into a queer, academic girl hunt filled with Taco Bell stops, hangs at the bookstore, and hopping into the windows of our friends. YA is such a cliche genre at times! Writers soften themes to be palatable to publishers and parents. Not this one. Here Casey McQuiston has done something really loving, tender, sharp, and exciting while bringing out the harder parts of being a teenager in an honest way. The world of Willowgrove feels like a place I could walk into. I was rooting for everyone the whole time. And right when I thought McQuiston was gonna let me down, John Green style, they turned that ship right around and gave me one more thing to be excited about.
I LAUGHED. I CRIED. I FELT LIKE I GRADUATED.
There were a million pop culture references, a favorite of mine, and plenty of beautiful name drops of poets and writers I adore. I had a very good time reading this book. Top pick for '22!
This book was everything fun about a teen rom-com. McQuiston modernizes the male-gazey parts of a Molly Ringwald movie into a queer, academic girl hunt filled with Taco Bell stops, hangs at the bookstore, and hopping into the windows of our friends. YA is such a cliche genre at times! Writers soften themes to be palatable to publishers and parents. Not this one. Here Casey McQuiston has done something really loving, tender, sharp, and exciting while bringing out the harder parts of being a teenager in an honest way. The world of Willowgrove feels like a place I could walk into. I was rooting for everyone the whole time. And right when I thought McQuiston was gonna let me down, John Green style, they turned that ship right around and gave me one more thing to be excited about.
I LAUGHED. I CRIED. I FELT LIKE I GRADUATED.
There were a million pop culture references, a favorite of mine, and plenty of beautiful name drops of poets and writers I adore. I had a very good time reading this book. Top pick for '22!
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
4.0
I had the pleasure of listening to Ocean Vuong read these poems through a free ALC from Libro.fm. I was grateful for the continuation of themes of motherhood, queerness, immigration, and Massachusettes that comes through in OEWBG. I found myself moved emotionally by many of the lines and "Not Even" lives in me always.
"What if it wasn't the crash that made us, but the debris?"
"What if it wasn't the crash that made us, but the debris?"
Things to Do Instead of Killing Yourself by Jon-Michael Frank, Tara Booth
4.0
Did I laugh because it was true? Yes. Did I laugh because sometimes life hurts and laughing is a good way to get through it? Also yes. Mostly sarcastic, but completely relatable. Is this me? I asked. It was. It was me.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
3.0
This didn't really feel my cup even though I really felt a connection to conversations about being biracial and queer and trans and the aspects of gender that were talked about. I think part of it is that it made me feel very lonely, as if I had missed out on really important parts of being queer and by missing out on those parts I am less queer in that regard. But that's just my position, and nothing that Imbler did by writing this. The book is well written and I think for me, I didn't really need the connection to see creatures in order to feel the vastness of the concerns that were brought up. I think at this time I needed something else. But four stars, nonetheless.
The Door by Magda Szabó
4.0
Emerences' dialogue was a gut punch every time.
The dance Szabo conducts between the narrator (herself) and Emerence is two very different snakes--one meek garden serpent confronting a cobra--coiling together almost too-close-for-comfort and snapping back when one is irritated (triggered). Love is a funny thing.
The dance Szabo conducts between the narrator (herself) and Emerence is two very different snakes--one meek garden serpent confronting a cobra--coiling together almost too-close-for-comfort and snapping back when one is irritated (triggered). Love is a funny thing.