Furia

You know I love a book that does many things well – and Yamile Saied Méndez's FURIA is that, through and through. Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for the gifted ARC, and for having me on book tour.

Content warnings: femicide, domestic violence, sexism

I've been a Juve fan for over 15 years and Saied Méndez is a fellow Utahn, so there was zero doubt that I'd read this book. When I started reading it, I thought it was going to be a much simpler plot centered primarily around passion for fútbol and young love. It is that, but I can't ignore what else this book brings to the table:

+ Diversity presented as fact. Our protagonist Camila is Argentinian with Palestinian, Russian, Black Brazilian, and Andalusian heritage. Her best friend Roxana is Chinese Argentinian, and another character is Indian (South Asian). It's a wonderful reminder that no country is a monolith. We Americans like to think of ourselves as the only melting pot... but that's pretty self-aggrandizing, since it ignores our historical and current xenophobia. (And let's not forget how our melting pot is white-washed.)

+ #NiUnaMenos. I am aware of overt sexism and societally accepted violence against women, here and abroad, but it's not my lived experience. That's a privilege. But that's not to pity Argentine women for their lives or to make light of their experiences. Women are powerful people, and this book celebrates female power and the turning tide against machismo, domestic violence, and femicide. Saied Méndez touches on how feminism can be polarizing.

+ Multidimensionality. I don't want to perpetuate a myth that Latinas need to be everything and more to be multidimensional, but I love that Camila is athletic and passionate about the English language. That she loves her family and wants a life bigger than that for herself. That Diego can be macho and vulnerable in ways that lends hope for current and future generations of male-identifying people.

If you pick up one YA book this year, let it be FURIA.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the eARC. 4.5, rounding up here. There is SO much to love here in this fully realized, well written, feminist #ownvoices novel about an Argentinian teen who dreams of becoming a professional fútbol player. Camilia, known as Furia on the field for her gifted and aggressive style of play, is hiding her participation on the team from her family, even though her own brother is a respected player moving up in the ranks. The reasons for her keeping this secret are nuanced, and Saied Méndez really excels at depicting Camila's complicated family life and Argentinian gender struggles as a whole, with a window (for me) into the Green Handkerchief movement. Beyond money and gendered familial/societal expectations and opportunities, a further complication on Camila's pathway to her dream is her burgeoning relationship with a childhood friend who is now famous and playing for Juventus F.C. Every choice Camila makes here feels authentic and earned, and the afterward that flashes into the future feels empowering. A truly impressive debut novel, I can't wait to recommend this book and I know that we'll all be looking out for more by Saied Méndez.

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before.

listen this may or may not be my new favorite book.

thank you to algonquin books and colored pages book tours for an arc copy of this beauty.

This was an absolute masterpiece. Yamile truly has such a way with words!!! i'm obsessed. I'm going to need a day to truly come up with words to explain my feelings towards this book. so full review to come. 

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before.

listen this may or may not be my new favorite book.

thank you to algonquin books and colored pages book tours for an arc copy of this beauty.

This was an absolute masterpiece. Yamile truly has such a way with words!!! i'm obsessed. I'm going to need a day to truly come up with words to explain my feelings towards this book. so full review to come. 

I love stories where young women triumph over their odds and Yamile Saied Méndez gives us a glorious one in Furia with Camila.

Overcoming patriarchy is hard everywhere. Having to overcome it in your own family and country, and then add poverty on top of it can be impossible. Sometimes luck does play a hand in life, but so does sacrifice and dedication. Camila demonstrates all of these characteristics.

Her family dynamics will be familiar to a lot of readers as will the state of her surroundings. Méndez does not soften any of the characters, even Camila as she missteps with her family. There is a saying in the book, “a lie has short legs” and this will come true many times in the book in ways that are expected and illuminating. The struggle to escape makes people take desperate actions.

Méndez creates a dramatic story in the background which runs throughout the book in which every female's lives are judged against. It is an intriguing technique to utilize to illustrate the patriarchal ideas which run in men and women. It is also a sad reality of life.

There is a brief moment of domestic violence in the book. Méndez gives us a satisfying resolution to this situation.

Overall Furia, is a coming of age story about Camila, who with nowhere else to go but the soccer field is determined to succeed there and on fields everywhere. You will be cheering “Furia” too by the end as Camila races across the field.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.