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A review by nickoliver
Heroine by Mindy McGinnis
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I picked this book up mostly because I had recommended it to my library a while ago and they finally acquired it and sent me an email, so I thought, well, I'm in the mood, so sure, why not? And it was a pretty fast read, courtesy of having short chapters.
What stood out the most was the portrayal of addiction and withdrawal. From what I've heard from other reviewers, it was very well done and accurate, but please take care of yourself if these topics trigger you, because their description is pretty detailed throughout the entire book. It was also hard to read for someone like me who doesn't have any personal experience with addiction; the way in which Mickey constantly lied to herself and justified the use of drugs was just heartbreaking to read.
I also liked to see the dynamics between Mickey and her family/her friends. Mickey had been adopted by a couple that couldn't have their own children because the wife was infertile. They weren't together anymore, and Mickey's father had re-married and gotten his new wife pregnant, which obviously caused some tensions. What was intriguing about this was especially the way it affected Mickey's addiction. Basically, she told herself she could never admit to her mother that she was a drug addict, because then her dad would think she was a bad mother and wasn't able to care for Mickey herself. Though I didn't always appreciate how Mickey was sometimes seen as kind of less than, just because she was adopted?
In terms of friends, there were generally two groups: Mickey's friends from the softball team, and the new friends she made while using. And it was interesting to see the difference between the two groups?
Basically, with her softball team friends, Mickey felt like she didn't have anything in common with them apart from, you know, softball. She did have a best friend on the team with her, Carolina, but she wasn't really that good a friend, truth to be told. I kind of had a hard time liking her. Carolina was in the car with Mickey when the accident happened, and she ended up with an injured arm that made softball harder for her the same way that Mickey's injury made it harder for her, and I think she blamed Mickey a bit for that? Later in the book, she also never truly had sympathy for Mickey or tried to help her; at the contrary, she didn't understand how she could have gotten addicted to painkillers, because she herself managed to not take more than she was prescribed. That didn't sit right with me. Shouldn't she have at least tried to understand it, instead of throwing the whole friendship away? Though it does need to be said that Carolina came from a family that saw all types of pills as a bad thing, so maybe she had internalised some stuff.
Carolina was also Puerto Rican, and I did like that we got to see some Spanish (and also that said Spanish wasn't italicised the way a lot of authors do). However, I felt like the way her being bilingual was shown wasn't always accurate? McGinnis said that Carolina could effortlessly switch between languages, and I don't know if I'm just a very useless bilingual, but that doesn't sound very logical to me? Are some people actually capable of never forgetting a word or phrase in the language they're currently talking in? Is there never any code switching, never any interferences? Does that absolutely never happen for some people? I'm actually curious.
With her new friends, Mickey didn't have that problem of "What am I gonna talk to them about?". And while you knew that they all weren't good for each other, you still understood why they were drawn to each other? It was also certainly interesting to see their different reasons for taking drugs in the first place. For example, Mickey and Luther had started taking them because of injuries, while Josie was just a bored rich girl who took them for no particular reason. And Derrick did a lot of things just to impress Josie. I appreciated that McGinnis showed that there wasn't just one type of drug addict, but that people resorted to drugs for a variety of reasons.
The one thing about the book I absolutely did hate was the way it portrayed lesbians. First of all, is it very realistic that an entire softball team only has one (1) lesbian in it? My country doesn't play softball, so maybe I have just been deceived by media who likes to put lesbians and softball together like peanut butter and jelly, but it seems unlikely to me that there aren't more lesbians. And secondly, the one lesbian that the softball team did have, Lydia, was ... kind of predatory? For example, it was said that she tried to convince Mickey that she (Mickey) wasn't straight. It was all said to be playful, Lydia wasn't a villain or anything, but I really hated that. There was also a scene where Mickey was home on like, a Friday night or something, and wondered who she could call up, since Carolina was busy or so. When her mind landed on Lydia, she figured she couldn't ask her because it would give her "wrong ideas". Like ... it might come as a surprise to you, but we're totally capable of hanging out with other girls without immediately starting to hit on them or make them uncomfortable. IT'S A THING.
Overall, though, the portrayal of addiction and withdrawal was so well done that it did overshadow my issues a bit. And I did like the way McGinnis explored family and friends and their reactions to Mickey's addiction, even if I didn't always appreciated the way they did react.
What stood out the most was the portrayal of addiction and withdrawal. From what I've heard from other reviewers, it was very well done and accurate, but please take care of yourself if these topics trigger you, because their description is pretty detailed throughout the entire book. It was also hard to read for someone like me who doesn't have any personal experience with addiction; the way in which Mickey constantly lied to herself and justified the use of drugs was just heartbreaking to read.
I also liked to see the dynamics between Mickey and her family/her friends. Mickey had been adopted by a couple that couldn't have their own children because the wife was infertile. They weren't together anymore, and Mickey's father had re-married and gotten his new wife pregnant, which obviously caused some tensions. What was intriguing about this was especially the way it affected Mickey's addiction. Basically, she told herself she could never admit to her mother that she was a drug addict, because then her dad would think she was a bad mother and wasn't able to care for Mickey herself. Though I didn't always appreciate how Mickey was sometimes seen as kind of less than, just because she was adopted?
In terms of friends, there were generally two groups: Mickey's friends from the softball team, and the new friends she made while using. And it was interesting to see the difference between the two groups?
Basically, with her softball team friends, Mickey felt like she didn't have anything in common with them apart from, you know, softball. She did have a best friend on the team with her, Carolina, but she wasn't really that good a friend, truth to be told. I kind of had a hard time liking her. Carolina was in the car with Mickey when the accident happened, and she ended up with an injured arm that made softball harder for her the same way that Mickey's injury made it harder for her, and I think she blamed Mickey a bit for that? Later in the book, she also never truly had sympathy for Mickey or tried to help her; at the contrary, she didn't understand how she could have gotten addicted to painkillers, because she herself managed to not take more than she was prescribed. That didn't sit right with me. Shouldn't she have at least tried to understand it, instead of throwing the whole friendship away? Though it does need to be said that Carolina came from a family that saw all types of pills as a bad thing, so maybe she had internalised some stuff.
Carolina was also Puerto Rican, and I did like that we got to see some Spanish (and also that said Spanish wasn't italicised the way a lot of authors do). However, I felt like the way her being bilingual was shown wasn't always accurate? McGinnis said that Carolina could effortlessly switch between languages, and I don't know if I'm just a very useless bilingual, but that doesn't sound very logical to me? Are some people actually capable of never forgetting a word or phrase in the language they're currently talking in? Is there never any code switching, never any interferences? Does that absolutely never happen for some people? I'm actually curious.
With her new friends, Mickey didn't have that problem of "What am I gonna talk to them about?". And while you knew that they all weren't good for each other, you still understood why they were drawn to each other? It was also certainly interesting to see their different reasons for taking drugs in the first place. For example, Mickey and Luther had started taking them because of injuries, while Josie was just a bored rich girl who took them for no particular reason. And Derrick did a lot of things just to impress Josie. I appreciated that McGinnis showed that there wasn't just one type of drug addict, but that people resorted to drugs for a variety of reasons.
The one thing about the book I absolutely did hate was the way it portrayed lesbians. First of all, is it very realistic that an entire softball team only has one (1) lesbian in it? My country doesn't play softball, so maybe I have just been deceived by media who likes to put lesbians and softball together like peanut butter and jelly, but it seems unlikely to me that there aren't more lesbians. And secondly, the one lesbian that the softball team did have, Lydia, was ... kind of predatory? For example, it was said that she tried to convince Mickey that she (Mickey) wasn't straight. It was all said to be playful, Lydia wasn't a villain or anything, but I really hated that. There was also a scene where Mickey was home on like, a Friday night or something, and wondered who she could call up, since Carolina was busy or so. When her mind landed on Lydia, she figured she couldn't ask her because it would give her "wrong ideas". Like ... it might come as a surprise to you, but we're totally capable of hanging out with other girls without immediately starting to hit on them or make them uncomfortable. IT'S A THING.
Overall, though, the portrayal of addiction and withdrawal was so well done that it did overshadow my issues a bit. And I did like the way McGinnis explored family and friends and their reactions to Mickey's addiction, even if I didn't always appreciated the way they did react.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Infertility
Also CW for talk about injuries (a little bit nauseating at times) as well as drug withdrawal.