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renatasnacks 's review for:
Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe
by Carlos Hernandez
hmmm I LOVED [b:Sal and Gabi Break the Universe|36595887|Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (Sal and Gabi, #1)|Carlos Hernandez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536087897l/36595887._SY75_.jpg|58346652] so I was stoked to get an ARC of the sequel on NetGalley. I get books on NetGalley regularly and I know these advance copies aren't yet ready for publication etc so I don't hold it against the final copy, but I have to note that this ARC was WILD in terms of capitalization, or lack thereof? Like almost no character's name was ever capitalized, which was distracting and made me wonder....does Carlos Hernadez just write his drafts entirely in lower case?? Are the characters all devotees of ee cummings and/or bell hooks??? Anyway presumably the final version will not have that but I just wanted to mention it.
ok anyway something that IS probably in the final version is just like a distracting gender issue, which is that their teacher Srx. Cosquillas makes a big deal about how he's using the gender neutral title "Srx" and in the future everyone will use "Srx" (instead of "Sr." or "Sra/Srta"). Fine, great, I'm on board BUT he also calls all of his students "dude" and "dudes" all the time? I would accept this if he made a mention of "I also believe dude is gender neutral" or something like that, an argument I've heard from others and would be fine with, but...he never mentions it and his self-described smart-aleck students never call out the contradiction.
ALSO Gabi has 7 dads, fine, this was lightly mentioned in the last book but in this book we spent more time with the dads and I just want to know why one of the dads is a woman? She has a mom and then 7 dads and one dad is a woman who does not seem to be gender non-conforming or anything along those lines. Is "Dad" a gender neutral term? Why can't she have 2 moms and 6 dads. Again, if "Cari-Dad" (the female dad) would give like a 1-sentence explanation of why she prefers to be a dad I would be fine with it but SHE NEVER DOES AND NO ONE DOES AND I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING A MOM???
anyway these are minor points that occupied a disproportionate amount of my thoughts while reading this. Is this why I liked it less than I liked the first one or is it genuinely also a weaker story? hard to say, hard to say. I still like these characters; I personally think this got a little carried away with an ambitious multiverse plot + literal talking toilet humor + a very large cast of characters? But still I think there's a lot to like here and most tween readers will probably be more into the toilet humor and less distracted by my above issues.
ok anyway something that IS probably in the final version is just like a distracting gender issue, which is that their teacher Srx. Cosquillas makes a big deal about how he's using the gender neutral title "Srx" and in the future everyone will use "Srx" (instead of "Sr." or "Sra/Srta"). Fine, great, I'm on board BUT he also calls all of his students "dude" and "dudes" all the time? I would accept this if he made a mention of "I also believe dude is gender neutral" or something like that, an argument I've heard from others and would be fine with, but...he never mentions it and his self-described smart-aleck students never call out the contradiction.
ALSO Gabi has 7 dads, fine, this was lightly mentioned in the last book but in this book we spent more time with the dads and I just want to know why one of the dads is a woman? She has a mom and then 7 dads and one dad is a woman who does not seem to be gender non-conforming or anything along those lines. Is "Dad" a gender neutral term? Why can't she have 2 moms and 6 dads. Again, if "Cari-Dad" (the female dad) would give like a 1-sentence explanation of why she prefers to be a dad I would be fine with it but SHE NEVER DOES AND NO ONE DOES AND I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING A MOM???
anyway these are minor points that occupied a disproportionate amount of my thoughts while reading this. Is this why I liked it less than I liked the first one or is it genuinely also a weaker story? hard to say, hard to say. I still like these characters; I personally think this got a little carried away with an ambitious multiverse plot + literal talking toilet humor + a very large cast of characters? But still I think there's a lot to like here and most tween readers will probably be more into the toilet humor and less distracted by my above issues.