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A review by chyreads29
The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila
3.0
There were quite a lot of social issues tackled here. Too many in my opinion. And the way the issues were presented, sometimes like literal lessons out of a history book, was frustrating. Readers, no matter the age, have got to be responsible for doing some work. That was largely missing. Also, the antagonist is just an evil caricature, which means the root of gun violence and racism is left uncovered. It all feels very surface-level.
It's in the blurb, and it was very obvious it was coming, but the ending hit me harder than I expected and I sobbed. As an educator who works with high schoolers, I was emotionally spent by the close of the book. It is a lot to take in and can be triggering. Please consult content warnings.
I did enjoy how Avila wrote about Brujeria and ancestral magic. And I liked the many moments where we could see Yolanda being a normal teenager: sharing a close bond with her grandmother, bickering with her best friend, falling in love for the first time, connecting with her culture, trying to build a bridge between her estranged parents, leading a brave space club at her school. And there was so much care put into the teacher characters (Avila was a k-12 teacher for a decade!). Very humanizing and validating. Those aspects of the book were really heartwarming.
It's in the blurb, and it was very obvious it was coming, but the ending hit me harder than I expected and I sobbed. As an educator who works with high schoolers, I was emotionally spent by the close of the book. It is a lot to take in and can be triggering. Please consult content warnings.
I did enjoy how Avila wrote about Brujeria and ancestral magic. And I liked the many moments where we could see Yolanda being a normal teenager: sharing a close bond with her grandmother, bickering with her best friend, falling in love for the first time, connecting with her culture, trying to build a bridge between her estranged parents, leading a brave space club at her school. And there was so much care put into the teacher characters (Avila was a k-12 teacher for a decade!). Very humanizing and validating. Those aspects of the book were really heartwarming.