Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Lakelore

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore

59 reviews

seawarrior's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

Lakelore is an emotional story about two neurodivergent and nonbinary teenagers of color who are struggling with self-esteem issues they're scared to let surface. As an adult reader, I found the writing too repetitive and didactic, and the story continuously felt like it was in the introductory stage until I realized it was nearly over. I unfortunately expected something more exciting from the description of a "world under the lake", which readers never get to fully experience. However, the colorful descriptions of the lake-shaded world and the characters' emerging self-clarity were rewarding to read. Teen readers who are new to finding stories that relate to their experience will likely treasure this title.

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pagelikebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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maeverose's review against another edition

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4.75

This book made me feel things. The imagery is so vivid and beautiful. I loved the way the magical realism and alebrijes were incorporated. The writing is beautiful. I relate very much to Bastián, though I’m not diagnosed I’ve been pretty sure for a while now that I have adhd, and there were so many quotes I related to. I wish I could’ve read this when I was a teen, I’d have probably loved it even more.

I also loved when they each helped each other with their respective neurodivergencies with the testosterone injections

.

The only things that bothered me was it was a little difficult to keep the two pov characters straight. They’re both very similar, but I found that they were almost a little too similar, to the point of me constantly having to check who’s pov I was in and remind myself who was who. It got easier towards the end but for the first half at least it was an effort. Second, this is probably nit picky but

I didn’t personally understand why Lore rejected Bastián when Bastián already said they accepted Lore as they were. It just felt like unnecessary drama for the sake of adding conflict. Though that might just be me struggling to see things from the perspective of a teenager who’s been through something I haven’t. It also felt like they kept having to explain their neurodiversity to each other, like they kept forgetting and assuming the other was neurotypical. I swear they each told the other multiple times as if it was the first.

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city_girl_writer's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-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

5.0

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rachelisgreen's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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

This was a very sweet book about the experience of two non-binary, Mexican teens living with neurodivergence. There’s magical realism woven throughout the perspectives of each character, with reflections on gender and ADHD and Dyslexia as a main focus.

The message was a bit bluntly communicated, but the messages were good ones and the story telling was beautiful. It did get a bit repetitive at times but overall it was a really sweet read.

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punky__pie's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

4.25

Lakelore is well-written, if a little drawn out in spots. Would be a great read for a teenager or young adult struggling with a recent neurodivergency diagnosis.
Lakelore incorporates magic in a really unique way that was super enjoyable, even as an adult. Definitely worth a read!

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janiscox's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

A great book about gender diversity, beurodibergence and mental health. Took a bit to get into because I'm not very adept at colour names, but worth the read. Very touching end and a book I could have done with when I was a teen.

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citrus_seasalt's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

4 stars! I liked the prose and both our characters, and the narrative’s focus on bullying and being gaslit as a victim really hit me hard as a neurodivergent person(although me and Lore’s experiences differ in a multitude of ways). I also got very invested in the romance, and thought it played out beautifully for the most part! T4T relationships, yay. With that said, this book is far from being perfect. The magical realism plot gets lost in order to center Lore and Bastián’s personal issues, and as a result, the story’s focus gets muddied. I also thought Bastián’s chapters tended to get a little repetitive over the course of the book, focusing on anecdotes about struggling with their ADHD, while Lore had a more consistent arc about moving on from their past and learning to believe/side with themself. In my experience, the difference in emotional impact and subject matter when switching POVs was significantly more noticeable in the audiobook(which was on my second read).

Anna-Marie McLemore’s books have a few tropes in them, which I’ve noticed across reading six of them, and unfortunately Lakelore is not immune to that. Specifically,

the “breakup for a chapter or two because circumstances dictate we can’t be together if we want to keep our physical and/or emotional well-being intact. However, I as a/the protagonist will lie, and say the breakup is because I’ve lost or never truly had romantic feelings in order to be left alone, which my love interest will begrudgingly accept” trope. (How is it so consistent across their books?! I don’t know, but it’s been in, like..three. HALF of the books by them I’ve read, as of the time I’m writing this review.) Granted, this conflict gets resolved pretty quickly, but I still hate communication and that it had to happen with Lore and Bastián. I get that Lore didn’t want their own stuff resurfacing, in both the literal and metaphorical sense, but telling Bastián they don’t love them feels unnecessarily cruel…Ugh.

I still have this in my “four-star favorites”, though, because Lakelore is a deeply meaningful book to me. And I think it’s important, too! I like it’s representation, and the the themes it addresses. Because I could tell that in discussing Bastián’s self doubt, and Lore’s trauma, it was written from a standpoint that could only be from personal experience. In my perception as a reader, Anna-Marie McLemore writes their heart out onto the pages of most of the books they’ve published. It’s not something that is different with Lakelore. That’s something that keeps me returning to their work even with my criticisms, and a large part in my adoration of this book. Plus, this was the first one of their books I’d read. It made me fall in love with their writing.

Maybe another part of my positive bias comes from my audio reread, too. I liked the narration, and knew of both of the narrators (Avi Roque and Vico Ortiz)(Bastiàn and Lore’s chapters, respectively) from TV roles I’d come to love and find comfort in as a nonbinary person looking for solid representation. (On my Goodreads account, I even have a Lumity profile picture I drew myself!) To come back to Lakelore and realize they had some part in it when I’d already loved this book and read it a month or two prior was really cool to me! Obviously compared to some other points, it’s minor, but still neat imo.

So in conclusion, I really love this book and regard it as one of my favorites, but I understand the criticisms and why some people don’t.

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maxgdy's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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