I'm going to start by saying that as a cis hetero white woman, I'm not sure I'm the right person to be reviewing this book.
This book has a LOT happening. Juliet is a 19 year old latinx who, at the start of the novel, is getting ready to come out to her entire family. It's the night before she leaves to go across the country for her summer internship. It's a lot for Juliet. She's anxious to get this over with. She's tired of living with a secret relationship. You'll read about how THAT goes.
As if that isn't enough, Juliet's internship is with her personal hero, Harlowe Brisbane, author of Raging Flower. Yes, Raging Flower, the book Juliet has been obsessing over for months. She wrote to Harlowe in one inspired fit and managed to score the internship of internships. One whole summer in Portland, Oregon working with an actual published author and a certified lesbian feminist.
There are a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings, and a lot of thinking and discovery that goes along with this book and with Juliet herself. Juliet is immersed into a new queer world she doesn't know too much about. She's learning about Preferred Gender Pronouns, realizing the power in your pussy, the issue with thinking womanhood can only be achieved by being born with a pussy, the power in yourself and words too.
Oregon greets her with a level of newness that is almost too much. Hippies, acupuncturists, and vegans. It's a level of newness for me as a reader, too. I don't want to give away too many instances of conflict that Juliet encounters but one thing that I found especially important is how racism can be disguised as good intentions. White people who consider themselves allies can STILL offend and hurt even if they don't mean to. And the most important part of this, is to own up to your mistakes, hear what people communicate to you, and grow from it. Most of all, don't make it about yourself.
At times it almost felt like too much to take in in such a succinct and short book (although at 304 pages, It's really not short either). I almost wanted the book to be longer so I had more time in between events to process and learn more.
I strongly feel this is an important read. We need to read diverse books about diverse characters and from diverse authors. Gabby Rivera is an engaging author. Her prose... it's like you can HEAR Juliet. It feels authentic. You know how sometimes when you're reading a book you think, "I'm not sure people talk like that?" That doesn't happen here.
This book has a LOT happening. Juliet is a 19 year old latinx who, at the start of the novel, is getting ready to come out to her entire family. It's the night before she leaves to go across the country for her summer internship. It's a lot for Juliet. She's anxious to get this over with. She's tired of living with a secret relationship. You'll read about how THAT goes.
As if that isn't enough, Juliet's internship is with her personal hero, Harlowe Brisbane, author of Raging Flower. Yes, Raging Flower, the book Juliet has been obsessing over for months. She wrote to Harlowe in one inspired fit and managed to score the internship of internships. One whole summer in Portland, Oregon working with an actual published author and a certified lesbian feminist.
There are a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings, and a lot of thinking and discovery that goes along with this book and with Juliet herself. Juliet is immersed into a new queer world she doesn't know too much about. She's learning about Preferred Gender Pronouns, realizing the power in your pussy, the issue with thinking womanhood can only be achieved by being born with a pussy, the power in yourself and words too.
Oregon greets her with a level of newness that is almost too much. Hippies, acupuncturists, and vegans. It's a level of newness for me as a reader, too. I don't want to give away too many instances of conflict that Juliet encounters but one thing that I found especially important is how racism can be disguised as good intentions. White people who consider themselves allies can STILL offend and hurt even if they don't mean to. And the most important part of this, is to own up to your mistakes, hear what people communicate to you, and grow from it. Most of all, don't make it about yourself.
At times it almost felt like too much to take in in such a succinct and short book (although at 304 pages, It's really not short either). I almost wanted the book to be longer so I had more time in between events to process and learn more.
I strongly feel this is an important read. We need to read diverse books about diverse characters and from diverse authors. Gabby Rivera is an engaging author. Her prose... it's like you can HEAR Juliet. It feels authentic. You know how sometimes when you're reading a book you think, "I'm not sure people talk like that?" That doesn't happen here.