Zee (he/they)
Could find the english edition on here, but this was very nice. Read it in one sitting. I hope to find more translated works by this author
I feel very little connection to the themes of this book, but the writing is so beautiful that I would still enthusiastically recommend it.
(3.5) Cute! Definitely for an audience younger than I am, but wholesome and interesting. Wish this book had been around when I was a kid.
My tears are not yet dry as I write this. This book tore out my heart, but in such a beautiful and delicate way, that I feel thankful for it, and want Abulhawa to do it to me again.
Please read this book if you haven't yet. It is SO fucking beautiful, and full of what we need more of in this loveless world.
-I don't think I can give this book a star rating yet, cause I just gotta sit with it a bit longer.- (1,5 final rating. I had to take it down cause the stance on suicide, especially in this specific case of terminal illness, is unacceptable to me. I cannot get over it.)
However, I will say that this was weird and gross and that it disturbed and unsettled me, which I love! I want what I read to make me question myself, to make me think about the limits of my comfort. I loved giggling at the absurdity, at the stupidity, at the awkwardness of human behaviour. I think the writing style/choices that didn't work for a lot of people were what made this work for me. The repetition made me feel like I was circling the drain of grief, and that felt cathartic in this setting. I couldn't put this down! The queer mess still being messy at the end warmed my heart, even though it was the writing and not the events of the ending that made this feel finished to me.
What didn't work for me however was the stance this took on suicide. That was really disturbing to me, and kind of taints everything else. It could also definitely have been 10% shorter.
“If you see anyone trying to narrow the definition of neuroqueer, and trying to police who gets to use the term, feel free to tell them that I said to stop acting like a fucking cop. The world needs more queering, and fewer cops.”
Wish I could recommend this to all my friends as a great introduction to anarchism, but it's decent at best...
Fine intro to the topic. Wished there was more elaboration on children rights/liberation.
(3.5) ✨Ghoulfriends✨
Most of my issues with this were genre related, and that's my fault for continuously reading YA even though it doesn't work for me. This was pretty cute though.
Maybe it's that I'm not the target audience, but I felt let down by this book. A promising premise, but the messy main character just annoyed me most of the time, and while the world was beautiful, the repetition in the writing really broke the immersion for me.
This was too long and too dramatic for me. The mc is constantly in mortal danger, and while I understand the intention, it was just kinda annoying to read. It's 2 stars from me, but a +1 cause I'm still glad it exists.
Jasinska reads like she's trying to write as many quotable lines as possible. The concepts are great, but they feel underdeveloped, and ultimately disappointing.
(4.5) The solution to the destructive cult of capitalism? Queer community. That's some good shit.
This book falls under a category that I call: “Queer teen obsessed with death”, and apparently, that's my favourite genre!
The Immeasurable Depth of You falls into that. The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester falls into that. Have You Seen This Girl falls into that. I'm happy to have found these books as an adult, so that the gay emo teen in me can heal retroactively <3
(4.5) A sweet story of themes that are important to me. A good book to cry to whilst remaining hopeful.
This story conclusion could have been better, BUT, I love this world and the art, so I can forgive it some.
