Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano

1 review

emily_mh's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

5.0

Yasmín and high-school me have shedloads in common. She was such a relatable character, and I just wanted to give her a big hug. I felt so called out and kind of loved how I could recognise my own personal development by seeing what I used to be like in Yasmín. I wish I had had this book during high school as I think it would have made me question my priorities and normalised some of the experiences I was having. I loved how flawed Yasmín was, how she didn’t have all the answers at the end of the book because she’s literally a kid and not supposed to.

Through Yasmín’s journey, a wide variety of themes were explored. Toxic friendship was a focus, specifically how hard it is to recognise you’re in one and to navigate changing how you relate to one another. Another major aspect was looking at being an people-pleasing overachiever and how narrow that mindset is, how you do things for achievement and not enjoyment, or being with other people, or learning. But so many more complex topics were discussed, including toxic family dynamics and the pressure to sacrifice yourself to make things easy; the morality of gossip culture; queer self-discovery; and navigating what being Catholic means. I will always love a book when it covers such a dearth of topics in such a balanced way, because it’s such a realistic depiction of life. You’re never just faced with one challenge, one learning curve.

Found family was another favourite part of this book for me. The dynamic of the lower brass section was to die for. I love that Meriano took the time and space to show casual interactions between the members; it was such a natural way to prove the comfortability they shared.

The story also perfectly encapsulates that American high school feeling you get from watching movies like High School Musical. So few pieces of media capture this feeling for me nowadays, so I was having a whale of a time. Also, this book says it’s about marching band and it is ABOUT marching band. Marching band and music is at the forefront throughout the narrative. The reader gets details about learning an instrument and practicing by yourself, as a section, and as a band. Meriano describes the emotions that come with practice and performance and effortlessly illustrates the insular culture of band. I thought it was so well done.

And of course, this book is queer! There was fantastic questioning aroace rep in Yasmín. I really appreciated that the story wasn’t focussed on her developing a non-platonic relationship with Bloom; it was about her self-discovery, about doing things at her own pace, and also about showing the diversity of the aroace spectrum and the complexity of attraction.

I just really enjoyed reading this book. It was the type of story that you anticipate picking back up, and I’m really interested to see what else Meriano puts out!
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