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A review by ratgrrrl
Blue Monday Vol. 1: The Kids Are Alright by Chynna Clugston Flores
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
Not rating as I DNF'd at about a third of the way in purely on subjective enjoyment.
Music and movie obsessed anglophile teen, Bleu, is too cool for school and the fools she's stuck with. Hijinks and hyperfixations abound.
I love this in theory and there was a huge element of this being me, though I was more vacillating between incredibly cringe white middle class English kid in Wu Wear, a serious Juggalo phase, and everybody's favourite pretentious black and white thinking 16 year old punk. I'm frustrated because the me I was then would have hated this for not being 'pure' to punk or some other bullshit those who have no sense of self so they become entirely evangelical and puritanical about whatever they're into. But now, it's just a bit too juvenile and doesn't grab me enough - these are absolutely me problems subjective taste, no shade here.
A version of me that had the opportunity to be honest about who I really am at that time would have absolutely loved it. And I love that for her.
It's really cute and I just want to like it more than I actually do.
Also, people (in comfortable, safe situations) outside of the UK romanticising it is genuinely hilarious to me. Section 28 was still very much a thing in the time that this was set, so Queer and trans didn't exist for whole generation of us growing up. We existed, but through repression and silence. Thankfully, now we acknowledge we exist. Careful what you wish for, as now they want us exterminated. I think people forget that just because we didn't have Lineham and Rowling doing high profile hatred, this place has always been ultra conservative and hateful. Hell, the only ostensibly leftwing government we had is the one who lied to commit ear war crimes in Iraq!
Ah yes, the classic neurodivergent 'not actually a review just a rant'
Music and movie obsessed anglophile teen, Bleu, is too cool for school and the fools she's stuck with. Hijinks and hyperfixations abound.
I love this in theory and there was a huge element of this being me, though I was more vacillating between incredibly cringe white middle class English kid in Wu Wear, a serious Juggalo phase, and everybody's favourite pretentious black and white thinking 16 year old punk. I'm frustrated because the me I was then would have hated this for not being 'pure' to punk or some other bullshit those who have no sense of self so they become entirely evangelical and puritanical about whatever they're into. But now, it's just a bit too juvenile and doesn't grab me enough - these are absolutely me problems subjective taste, no shade here.
A version of me that had the opportunity to be honest about who I really am at that time would have absolutely loved it. And I love that for her.
It's really cute and I just want to like it more than I actually do.
Also, people (in comfortable, safe situations) outside of the UK romanticising it is genuinely hilarious to me. Section 28 was still very much a thing in the time that this was set, so Queer and trans didn't exist for whole generation of us growing up. We existed, but through repression and silence. Thankfully, now we acknowledge we exist. Careful what you wish for, as now they want us exterminated. I think people forget that just because we didn't have Lineham and Rowling doing high profile hatred, this place has always been ultra conservative and hateful. Hell, the only ostensibly leftwing government we had is the one who lied to commit ear war crimes in Iraq!
Ah yes, the classic neurodivergent 'not actually a review just a rant'