Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Rainbow Milk

I thought I might struggle to get into this since it's partly historical and I thought it might be a bit heavy, but I've raced through it

Pros:
- gripping and interesting writing throughout, which hooked me in right away. felt enormous sympathy for Norman from the first pages and for Jesse as we got to know him.
- the characters were painted so vividly that it felt like non-fic at times, like I could look them up online
- Mendez doesn't balk at any of grim realities Jesse faced, the abuse, some of the sex, the homophobia and internalised racism. there's never any shame put on Jesse for his choices by any of the decent characters and it really creates empathy
- I wanted so very badly for Jesse to do well, though I was afraid he wouldn't as there were so many ways he could've gone wrong - overdose, AIDS, or killed by a client. he wasn't like any other character I've read and I loved him
- it was strange but good to hear about the west Midlands in a book, the names of Dudley, Wolverhampton, merry Hill shopping centre, etc. all being familiar. and learning a bit more history of the area from a non-White perspective
- the book is also firmly placed in time through the music, a lot of which I didn't know, but still created an atmosphere. moving towards the 2000s felt like coming into familiar territory as I knew much more of those ones.
- as books like these always do, it made me think about my whiteness and what I can do to try to avoid the racism, personal and systemic, that Jesse faces.
- I did like how the book was structured, with the kind of prologue flashback of Norman's life at the start which eventually linked to Jesse.
- the book also raises the issue of beating kids as punishment, threatened by Norman and brutally carried out by Graham on Jesse. it's not confronted head on exactly, but I think it was clear it didn't work.
- oh and I did appreciate that there wasn't any biphobia, since bi people sometimes seem to slip by the wayside, but here were main characters and never dismissed or not included or acknowledged.

cons:
- I wish we had seen a bit more of Norman, since i liked him a lot, and it was tragic (but understandable I guess) that Jesse didn't get to meet his father.
- I felt that the shift from Jesse being 'Not Okay' to him being 'Okay' was too sudden, skipped over in time hops and summerised through flashbacks. After all of Jesse's suffering, to have seen that growth and recovery in the present tense would've been more rewarding I think, though I suppose Mendez thought it was the boring part of Jesse's story, his stay with Derrick, finding Owen and Ginika again, etc. I felt a bit robbed that we didn't get that part of the story.
- the part with Jean-Alain and Nick's dinner party right at the end, threw me a little too, but I suppose it was for the purpose of Jesse having that chat with J-A about the past. did feel stuck on the end though, like it was an extra scene randomly shoved into the main story.

overall, though, it was hugely readable and gripping, with a lot of important narratives and ideas in there, stories which haven't been the focus in the past, and highlighting the everyday racism and homophobia people still experience.

Content Warnings

uranaishi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

fynnnnnn's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Content Warnings

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Loved this book and thought parts of it were viscerally powerful; Mendez writes so wonderfully and with such insight about love, sex, desire, bodies and trauma. The feeling of longing springs off the page as you progress through the novel. However, the structure for me felt a little disappointing. I wish both Norman and Jesse's stories were given equal weight, as Norman's felt so promising but was ultimately short and underdeveloped - almost like it could have been incorporated into Jesse's narrative without a separate section.

Content Warnings

hilarylouise's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

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