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purplepenning 's review for:
Smash It!
by Francina Simone
Content warning: I recommend seeking out #OwnVoices reviewers for this one, which I think would have benefited from a sensitivity reader. Book contains (and review discusses) insensitive comments and hurtful stereotypes, specifically for readers from Palestinian, Israeli, Hawaiian, and Polynesian heritages; and hurtful comments from a parent about body shape and size. Additional content notes: strong language (the first word in the book is f*** and a major plot device is a F***-It list); frank discussions of sex and sexuality; absent father; emotional cheating; separation; unhealthy communication styles
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I liked the premise, but that cover paired with the perfect tagline ("Mistakes were made.") are definitely what sold me. I probably should've looked a little closer before jumping in because I don't generally like contemporary YA that is teen angsty and messy with drama and this one has ALL. THE. DRAMA.
Literally: It's framed with snippets of a modern rap version of Othello that the friend group and extended theater-track kids are producing. This sort of works, but I think you have to be a bigger Shakespeare or theater nerd than I am to get the full impact. I don't really dig his tragedies, so the Othello-ness of it all didn't add a lot for me even though the theater setting itself did.
Figuratively: It's full of the drama of modern teen love and life as our self-conscious, bottled up main character tries her own version of Shonda Rhimes' year of yes, developing a F***-It list on the fly as she tries to navigate junior year with more confidence and honesty. I love a coming-into-her-own tale, so that part of the storyline worked for me, but I'm not a fan of love triangles and high school relationship drama when the "if they'd just TALK to each other" factor gets too painfully high. If the humor level is high enough, I usually still enjoy a contemporary YA with all the drama. This one was almost there, but not quite. Also I didn't feel like the main romantic relationship ended up as a particularly satisfying and healthy situation.
Contextually: The cast is diverse (in ethnicity, religion, and with one elder coworker named Al, even in age) and the text examines, with varying degrees of success, a ton of contemporary issues (bias and stereotyping, code-switching, body shaming and harmful messaging, sexuality, etc.) but some of the banter and characterizations are insensitive and don't get called out or clarified as much as they should, which has left reviewers in a tough spot as far as rating and reviews go. If these 17-year-olds can talk frankly about sex and masturbating, if they can call each other out on their crap and maturely apologize to each other, if they can navigate their million-follower YouTube channels — then shouldn't they be able to address a disturbingly messed up joke about "holy war" in the context of a kid with Palestinian-Israeli heritage or not unthinkingly embraced "Moana" and other stereotypes in the context of a Hawaiian kid? Maybe. And if they can't — because life is messy and nonlinear and everyone has blindspots and these are just 17-year-olds and they're already maybe too mature for their years and this is trying to be a realistic and nuanced portrayal — then the author or editor should make that clear and also make it clear that those hurtful comments and stereotypes aren't being condoned. But they didn't. So drama. Deserved drama.
Sometimes I'll just add a content note and proceed with a normal review and rating in these cases, but for this one, I'm going to go without the star rating and with a prominent suggestion that you seek out #OwnVoices reviewers for this one.
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I liked the premise, but that cover paired with the perfect tagline ("Mistakes were made.") are definitely what sold me. I probably should've looked a little closer before jumping in because I don't generally like contemporary YA that is teen angsty and messy with drama and this one has ALL. THE. DRAMA.
Literally: It's framed with snippets of a modern rap version of Othello that the friend group and extended theater-track kids are producing. This sort of works, but I think you have to be a bigger Shakespeare or theater nerd than I am to get the full impact. I don't really dig his tragedies, so the Othello-ness of it all didn't add a lot for me even though the theater setting itself did.
Figuratively: It's full of the drama of modern teen love and life as our self-conscious, bottled up main character tries her own version of Shonda Rhimes' year of yes, developing a F***-It list on the fly as she tries to navigate junior year with more confidence and honesty. I love a coming-into-her-own tale, so that part of the storyline worked for me, but I'm not a fan of love triangles and high school relationship drama when the "if they'd just TALK to each other" factor gets too painfully high. If the humor level is high enough, I usually still enjoy a contemporary YA with all the drama. This one was almost there, but not quite. Also I didn't feel like the main romantic relationship ended up as a particularly satisfying and healthy situation.
Contextually: The cast is diverse (in ethnicity, religion, and with one elder coworker named Al, even in age) and the text examines, with varying degrees of success, a ton of contemporary issues (bias and stereotyping, code-switching, body shaming and harmful messaging, sexuality, etc.) but some of the banter and characterizations are insensitive and don't get called out or clarified as much as they should, which has left reviewers in a tough spot as far as rating and reviews go. If these 17-year-olds can talk frankly about sex and masturbating, if they can call each other out on their crap and maturely apologize to each other, if they can navigate their million-follower YouTube channels — then shouldn't they be able to address a disturbingly messed up joke about "holy war" in the context of a kid with Palestinian-Israeli heritage or not unthinkingly embraced "Moana" and other stereotypes in the context of a Hawaiian kid? Maybe. And if they can't — because life is messy and nonlinear and everyone has blindspots and these are just 17-year-olds and they're already maybe too mature for their years and this is trying to be a realistic and nuanced portrayal — then the author or editor should make that clear and also make it clear that those hurtful comments and stereotypes aren't being condoned. But they didn't. So drama. Deserved drama.
Sometimes I'll just add a content note and proceed with a normal review and rating in these cases, but for this one, I'm going to go without the star rating and with a prominent suggestion that you seek out #OwnVoices reviewers for this one.