Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

10 reviews

onegalonelife27's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Deportation and Colonisation

cvl_1103's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

First book in a while that I wanted to stay up all night to finish. A love story not just about adorable queer kids navigating their way through catholic school but about a family and how difficult it can be to navigate both.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation and Suicidal thoughts

queerloras's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Deportation, Homophobia, Biphobia, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Self harm, Colonisation, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

emily_mh's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

I don’t really feel capable of giving a proper, detailed review of this book because I am simply in awe of it. Just know that it is a perfect book about queerness, lesbians pining for each other, a gorgeous sibling relationship, celebrating every part of who you are, complicated families, mental health, the trauma of religious bigotry, being Brown and queer in a majority allocishet white space, forced separation from family, relearning to trust, rebonding with loved ones, simple and massive moments of joy, and ultimately, hope. I loved reading every second of it. 

My favourite quote was: “I can’t make him love himself. The closest I can get is loving myself unapologetically right in front of him.” 

Rep: lesbian Chicana MC, lesbian Chinese-American LI, bisexual Chicano SC, Native American (Navajo) SC, queer Black SC 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Racism

Moderate: Deportation, Vomit, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Outing, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Violence, Grief, Bullying, Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Abortion

Moderate: forced separation from family, disownment, suicidal ideation Minor: loss of a loved one, colourism, one use of the Spanish homophobic m-slur, one use of the lesbophobic d-slur

erc2020's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

Moderate: Classism and Colonisation

cecerosa's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Self harm, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Deportation

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Beautifully heartwarming 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Racism, Self harm, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Outing, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Cursing, Classism, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Vomit, Violence, Colonisation, Police brutality, Blood, Hate crime, and Sexual content

casually_booking's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School was so good. The cast of characters was dynamic and the setting of catholic school really brought to the forefront discussions on race, class, immigration status, religion, sexuality, and sexual orientation. Very intersectional. As someone who transferred to Catholic school for a few years, many of Yamilet’s experience rang true for me as a Person of Color. I absolutely loved Bo, and as a transracial adoptee, I see myself reflected in her. The conversations she had about embracing her culture on her terms really resonated and the author wrote these sections very well. My only critique of the book was that it felt a little long, but it had a big pay off in the end. I found myself laughing and crying throughout the book.  There was some gutting parts. Yami, Bo, and Cesar’s experiences as queer teens of Color truly demonstrated the uniqueness of everyone’s journey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Suicide, Outing, Homophobia, Sexism, Grief, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Bullying, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

studiouspoppy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I loved it! My expectations were high and somehow this book exceeded them. The way Yami talks about her roots and her culture, the fear and the homophobia in the latinx community, the sexist culture that favores the boys and gives responsibility without trust to girls… somehow while having a very different experience, i felt really seen. I would have liked if there were at least one latinx character with light skin since somehow we still are kind of invisible to the rest of the world, but i’ll forgive it since the topic of colorism was considered and that’s huge in the latin community. 
enjoyed so much the way their indigenous culture was so beautifully written into the plot, the way Yami talks about colonization so casually, and she seed the impact of colonization in everyday things, I try to do that and I think people should do it more too.

Spoiler

I loved the plot, the gay panic, I loved the bi representation through a boy, because it feels like bisexuality is mostly female in mainstream culture. I also loved that there were queer siblings, like that’s common, why is it so rare in books?
Finally, that ending had me tearing up. I loved Bo so much. The whole fake girlfriend thing was kind of predictable and hilarious, also the gay panicking and overthinking everything? so relatable! made me go back to my baby gay memories

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Classism, Homophobia, Outing, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Colonisation, Police brutality, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Panic attacks/disorders

purplepenning's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Some pacing issues, but it didn't keep the brilliant emotional integrity from shining through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Outing, Biphobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Grief

Minor: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Also includes deportation, fear of being kicked out/disowned, interracial adoption, underage drinking