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A review by judiitm_
Boys I Know by Anna Gracia
3.0
This book has at its core June Chu, delving into all the aspects of her life and how they connect, influence, and modulate each-other, which is probably the thing that sold me the most about this novel.
Far from being a mono-thematic novel, it digs deep in the romance aspect, seeing how family and friend relations, racism and others affected how she interacted and perceived everyone, by far my favorite aspect of this novel.
Furthermore, thanks to the first person perspective, we can see the whole thought process that June goes through while dating, which particularly enticed me, making it a clear point how we (women) are taught to turn the mere fact of receiving attention from men into something empowering when in reality it is anything but.
Even though this book doesn’t really shy away from many topics, I found it lacking specifically in one of the conflicts presented, Candace's relationship with Dom. I feel like the main lesson that we got from that situation was “Always support your friends” without adding nuance to the debate of college guys dating barely legal girls, which I was hoping it would do.
Overall, Boys I Know is a wonderful novel written with obvious care for the characters and topics portrayed while keeping it accessible for young adult readers.
Far from being a mono-thematic novel, it digs deep in the romance aspect, seeing how family and friend relations, racism and others affected how she interacted and perceived everyone, by far my favorite aspect of this novel.
Furthermore, thanks to the first person perspective, we can see the whole thought process that June goes through while dating, which particularly enticed me, making it a clear point how we (women) are taught to turn the mere fact of receiving attention from men into something empowering when in reality it is anything but.
Even though this book doesn’t really shy away from many topics, I found it lacking specifically in one of the conflicts presented, Candace's relationship with Dom. I feel like the main lesson that we got from that situation was “Always support your friends” without adding nuance to the debate of college guys dating barely legal girls, which I was hoping it would do.
Overall, Boys I Know is a wonderful novel written with obvious care for the characters and topics portrayed while keeping it accessible for young adult readers.