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ninetalevixen
I received an advance review copy from Jessica Kingsley Publishers through Netgalley; all opinions are my own and honest.
I appreciate the intent behind this book, I love that this exists in the world, and in fact I was moved to actual tears because certain passages made me feel so seen and valid and included. Over the years I've grappled with imposter syndrome in relation to my own diagnosis because I'm generally "high-functioning" — though I agree with Castellon, "high-" and "low-functioning" are labels that really do more harm than good — but there are also a million little things that only another autistic girl would ever notice, let alone understand. (This is why #ownvoices representation matters!)
There are several sections devoted to self-esteem and reminding the reader that they're not alone, even though it can feel that way; at times they border on cheesy, but on the whole they seem genuine. I do have some concerns, though: Castellon often uses phrases like "I'm sure you've had a similar experience," which undermines the acknowledgment that autism is a spectrum condition and individual presentations vary greatly, and (ironically) may make readers feel excluded if they haven't had a similar experience. Additionally, some of the "advice" in the mental health sections are very close to "positive thinking will cure your depression," which is inaccurate and unhelpful.
I think this could have used a lot more editing and input from others (both experts and peers); it tackles an extremely wide range of topics, and the author doesn't seem qualified to give advice on all of them.
While I liked the inclusion of the author's personal anecdotes and preferences — making the tone more akin to a chat between peers than a well-meaning lecture from some kind of authority figure — some of the advice is overly simplistic, is phrased in a borderline patronizing way (considering the target audience is the author's peers: teens and preteens), and/or is presented as the single best way to solve a problem when, again, everyone's experience is different. The comics are cute and I love the diverse characters, but I found the dialogue and advice overly simplistic.
The author's privilege also shows in a lot of the tips: not every reader will be able to get/use a laptop to circumvent handwriting issues, or have access to therapy, or switch schools when the bullying gets really bad but administration won't address it. (Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Castellon that these things worked for her. But it's naive and oblivious to present them as relatively fast-and-easy one-size-fits-all solutions.)
I appreciated the intersectional intentions in the section about LGBTQ+ identity, but since the author self-identifies as a (straight?) cis girl, honestly I was annoyed by the advice about these topics, such as coming out. While I can appreciate the desire to create a widely inclusive resource, it's not really credible advice. If LGBTQ+ autistic teens were consulted in the writing of this section (which would've been a good place to start), they don't seem to be acknowledged; if they weren't, I honestly think it would've been better to omit this section, or at least replace the advice with better-researched resources for the reader to look into. And the presentation of this section that might alienate some readers, because it's addressed primarily to MTF trans people — although this is marketed for autistic girls, it's hardly a stretch to imagine closeted/questioning/nonbinary young people picking it up (or being gifted a copy); and although the LGBTQ+ community is more widely accepted now than it used to be, being queer and autistic still isn't easy.
As a supplement to other available resources — I second Castellon's recommendation of the Smart Girl's Guide series, which were invaluable during my formative years — this book definitely fills in a specific gap. But I would caution against relying on it as a primary guide.
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CONVERSION: 8.9 / 15 = 3 stars
Prose: 5 / 10
Intellectual Engagement: 4 / 10
Credibility: 5 / 10
Organization / Structure: 7 / 10
Emotional Impact / Interest: 5 / 5
Rereadability: 3 / 5
Memorability: 3 / 5
I appreciate the intent behind this book, I love that this exists in the world, and in fact I was moved to actual tears because certain passages made me feel so seen and valid and included. Over the years I've grappled with imposter syndrome in relation to my own diagnosis because I'm generally "high-functioning" — though I agree with Castellon, "high-" and "low-functioning" are labels that really do more harm than good — but there are also a million little things that only another autistic girl would ever notice, let alone understand. (This is why #ownvoices representation matters!)
There are several sections devoted to self-esteem and reminding the reader that they're not alone, even though it can feel that way; at times they border on cheesy, but on the whole they seem genuine. I do have some concerns, though: Castellon often uses phrases like "I'm sure you've had a similar experience," which undermines the acknowledgment that autism is a spectrum condition and individual presentations vary greatly, and (ironically) may make readers feel excluded if they haven't had a similar experience. Additionally, some of the "advice" in the mental health sections are very close to "positive thinking will cure your depression," which is inaccurate and unhelpful.
I think this could have used a lot more editing and input from others (both experts and peers); it tackles an extremely wide range of topics, and the author doesn't seem qualified to give advice on all of them.
While I liked the inclusion of the author's personal anecdotes and preferences — making the tone more akin to a chat between peers than a well-meaning lecture from some kind of authority figure — some of the advice is overly simplistic, is phrased in a borderline patronizing way (considering the target audience is the author's peers: teens and preteens), and/or is presented as the single best way to solve a problem when, again, everyone's experience is different. The comics are cute and I love the diverse characters, but I found the dialogue and advice overly simplistic.
The author's privilege also shows in a lot of the tips: not every reader will be able to get/use a laptop to circumvent handwriting issues, or have access to therapy, or switch schools when the bullying gets really bad but administration won't address it. (Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Castellon that these things worked for her. But it's naive and oblivious to present them as relatively fast-and-easy one-size-fits-all solutions.)
I appreciated the intersectional intentions in the section about LGBTQ+ identity, but since the author self-identifies as a (straight?) cis girl, honestly I was annoyed by the advice about these topics, such as coming out. While I can appreciate the desire to create a widely inclusive resource, it's not really credible advice. If LGBTQ+ autistic teens were consulted in the writing of this section (which would've been a good place to start), they don't seem to be acknowledged; if they weren't, I honestly think it would've been better to omit this section, or at least replace the advice with better-researched resources for the reader to look into. And the presentation of this section that might alienate some readers, because it's addressed primarily to MTF trans people — although this is marketed for autistic girls, it's hardly a stretch to imagine closeted/questioning/nonbinary young people picking it up (or being gifted a copy); and although the LGBTQ+ community is more widely accepted now than it used to be, being queer and autistic still isn't easy.
As a supplement to other available resources — I second Castellon's recommendation of the Smart Girl's Guide series, which were invaluable during my formative years — this book definitely fills in a specific gap. But I would caution against relying on it as a primary guide.
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CONVERSION: 8.9 / 15 = 3 stars
Prose: 5 / 10
Intellectual Engagement: 4 / 10
Credibility: 5 / 10
Organization / Structure: 7 / 10
Emotional Impact / Interest: 5 / 5
Rereadability: 3 / 5
Memorability: 3 / 5
This definitely benefits from sentimental nostalgia since I really relied on (and often reread) it in elementary/middle school, at which point in my life it was a valued resource.
So it doesn't seem very fair to rate it based on what I've since learned about mental health and myself, especially now that I've aged out of the target audience. My only note is that I wish it talked more about mental illness since they have a huge impact on emotions (there's a sidebar checklist of depression symptoms, but that's about it) — but I have no idea what the mental health field looked like in 2002, so I'm not condemning the absence or anything.
So it doesn't seem very fair to rate it based on what I've since learned about mental health and myself, especially now that I've aged out of the target audience. My only note is that I wish it talked more about mental illness since they have a huge impact on emotions (there's a sidebar checklist of depression symptoms, but that's about it) — but I have no idea what the mental health field looked like in 2002, so I'm not condemning the absence or anything.
content warnings:
rep:
"Di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung. Have you heard this before? It means where we plant our feet is where we must hold up the sky. We live and die by the rules of the land we live in. But this country belongs to all of us! We make our own sky, and we can hold it up — together."
Generally speaking, historical novels aren't really my thing. But Alkaf paints a compelling and heartrending portrait of 1969 Kuala Lumpur through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old girl who just wants to find her mom and keep her safe. The ownvoices Malaysian rep is vivid, though for more specifics I'll direct you to CW's ownvoices review.
And Melati is an immensely likable protagonist: determined yet conscientious, fiercely loyal, battling OCD in a time and place without much understanding or support for mental illness. Her love of music (especially the Beatles) is relatable. Her perseverance is incredible, despite obstacles that would frankly have had me curled up anxiously in a corner — certainly not forging ahead to help others as Melati does.
Honestly I just don't feel like I can do justice to this book. The emotional labor involved in researching and writing it, how sensitively it portrays difficult themes, the thoughtful balance between each of the issues/arcs ... it kind of has to be experienced in its own right.
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CONVERSION: 11.9 / 15 = 4 stars
Prose: 6 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 8 / 10
Emotional Impact: 7 / 10
Development / Flow: 7 / 10
Setting: 9 / 10
Diversity & Social Themes: 5 / 5
Memorability: 4 / 5
Spoiler
graphic violence, deaths (incl. children, precanon parent death), grief, survivor's guilt, racism & xenophobia, OCD, anxiety triggers, riots, tear gas, arson, description of killing chickens (for food), corporal punishment, mention of bullying, implied attempted rape (witnessed)rep:
Spoiler
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) setting, Asian (Malay, Chinese, Indian) cast; Malaysian Muslim MC with OCD [Melati]"Di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung. Have you heard this before? It means where we plant our feet is where we must hold up the sky. We live and die by the rules of the land we live in. But this country belongs to all of us! We make our own sky, and we can hold it up — together."
Generally speaking, historical novels aren't really my thing. But Alkaf paints a compelling and heartrending portrait of 1969 Kuala Lumpur through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old girl who just wants to find her mom and keep her safe. The ownvoices Malaysian rep is vivid, though for more specifics I'll direct you to CW's ownvoices review.
And Melati is an immensely likable protagonist: determined yet conscientious, fiercely loyal, battling OCD in a time and place without much understanding or support for mental illness. Her love of music (especially the Beatles) is relatable. Her perseverance is incredible, despite obstacles that would frankly have had me curled up anxiously in a corner — certainly not forging ahead to help others as Melati does.
Honestly I just don't feel like I can do justice to this book. The emotional labor involved in researching and writing it, how sensitively it portrays difficult themes, the thoughtful balance between each of the issues/arcs ... it kind of has to be experienced in its own right.
-----------
CONVERSION: 11.9 / 15 = 4 stars
Prose: 6 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 8 / 10
Emotional Impact: 7 / 10
Development / Flow: 7 / 10
Setting: 9 / 10
Diversity & Social Themes: 5 / 5
Memorability: 4 / 5
★ 2.5 stars ★
tl;dr It's 2020 and there are more inclusive, up-to-date resources available. But as a resource specifically for gay cis boys/men (and their parents), this one might be somewhere to start.
Other reviewers have talked about how this book barely touches on identities other than gay/lesbian; this book probably would've benefitted from diverse co-writers, beyond just a survey of LGBT* youth. In short: Dawson uses "gay" and "homophobia" as umbrella terms and it often feels like bisexuality is an afterthought; there is also some transphobic language (equating biological sex with gender, often relative to others' sexuality), as well as asexual/aromantic erasure and exclusion of nonbinary folx. Pansexuality is only briefly mentioned as a historical precursor (i.e., in Greek/Roman society) to bisexuality, though in reality it's a distinct identity.
There's a lot of emphasis on sex, based on an assumption that everyone wants sex, and in fact gay people really want sex — that's where the ace erasure comes in, despite the inclusion of the term in the glossary and opening definitions. (Asexuality is also a spectrum; it's not a binary between "promiscuous" and "celibate.") The language also focuses on "male" and "female" relationships, excluding nonbinary/questioning folx as well as bi/pan people's relationships with them. There's also no mention of aromanticism, because the secondary assumption is that everyone also wants to be in a romantic relationship. (Not to erase queerplatonic relationships, which are valid and great but not mentioned in this book.)
Which is to say, a committed monogamous relationship. One section talks about open relationships, but polyamory is by and large dismissed as somehow inferior to monogamy. (Committed polyamorous relationships exist, though you wouldn't learn that from this book.)
The major selling point is that this is unapologetically gay, with reminders throughout that it isn't wrong or shameful not to be heterosexual — though some of it is expressed as a "gays vs. straights" dichotomy, despite an ending message that it's not a war. The author tries to be witty and sometimes succeeds, though some of the pop culture references are already quite dated, and some passages are cringeworthy in their crudeness (cutesy names for genitalia? No thanks). It's generally optimistic about things getting better for LGBT* folx on both personal and societal/global levels, at least in relatively progressive [Western] countries, which is a message many young people might need to hear.
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CONVERSION: 7.5 / 15 = 2.5 stars
Prose: 5 / 10
Intellectual Engagement: 2 / 10
Credibility: 5 / 10
Organization / Structure: 6 / 10
Emotional Impact / Interest: 3 / 5
tl;dr It's 2020 and there are more inclusive, up-to-date resources available. But as a resource specifically for gay cis boys/men (and their parents), this one might be somewhere to start.
Other reviewers have talked about how this book barely touches on identities other than gay/lesbian; this book probably would've benefitted from diverse co-writers, beyond just a survey of LGBT* youth. In short: Dawson uses "gay" and "homophobia" as umbrella terms and it often feels like bisexuality is an afterthought; there is also some transphobic language (equating biological sex with gender, often relative to others' sexuality), as well as asexual/aromantic erasure and exclusion of nonbinary folx. Pansexuality is only briefly mentioned as a historical precursor (i.e., in Greek/Roman society) to bisexuality, though in reality it's a distinct identity.
There's a lot of emphasis on sex, based on an assumption that everyone wants sex, and in fact gay people really want sex — that's where the ace erasure comes in, despite the inclusion of the term in the glossary and opening definitions. (Asexuality is also a spectrum; it's not a binary between "promiscuous" and "celibate.") The language also focuses on "male" and "female" relationships, excluding nonbinary/questioning folx as well as bi/pan people's relationships with them. There's also no mention of aromanticism, because the secondary assumption is that everyone also wants to be in a romantic relationship. (Not to erase queerplatonic relationships, which are valid and great but not mentioned in this book.)
Which is to say, a committed monogamous relationship. One section talks about open relationships, but polyamory is by and large dismissed as somehow inferior to monogamy. (Committed polyamorous relationships exist, though you wouldn't learn that from this book.)
The major selling point is that this is unapologetically gay, with reminders throughout that it isn't wrong or shameful not to be heterosexual — though some of it is expressed as a "gays vs. straights" dichotomy, despite an ending message that it's not a war. The author tries to be witty and sometimes succeeds, though some of the pop culture references are already quite dated, and some passages are cringeworthy in their crudeness (cutesy names for genitalia? No thanks). It's generally optimistic about things getting better for LGBT* folx on both personal and societal/global levels, at least in relatively progressive [Western] countries, which is a message many young people might need to hear.
-----------
CONVERSION: 7.5 / 15 = 2.5 stars
Prose: 5 / 10
Intellectual Engagement: 2 / 10
Credibility: 5 / 10
Organization / Structure: 6 / 10
Emotional Impact / Interest: 3 / 5
I mostly read this because I really liked The Sun Is Also a Star, but I was wary even before starting since I'd been warned about the way it deals with mental health — which is to say, it's inaccurate to the point of being potentially offensive. (Not having any personal experience or special knowledge, I'm certainly not qualified to make a judgment on this aspect.)
I think what makes me angry, as a reader and as someone with (mental/slight physical) health issues is more the fact that there are no signs that something is wrong, that the diagnosis is invalid. As an uneducated/everyday reader, there was no way for you to see it coming so it feels like it serves more for shock value than anything else. It also contributes to the discrediting of conditions like these, like "Are you sure you're really sick? How do you know?" And that bothers me.
Beyond that, I am not at all a fan of "girl meets boy. boy changes girl's world" especially when it involves the girl trying to "fix" herself for the boy. The way she carelessly endangers herself just to touch him, the reckless running away, even just the drawing away from/lying to her mom — none of that behavior should be romanticized like it has been here.
I think what makes me angry, as a reader and as someone with (mental/slight physical) health issues is more the fact that there are no signs that something is wrong, that the diagnosis is invalid. As an uneducated/everyday reader, there was no way for you to see it coming so it feels like it serves more for shock value than anything else. It also contributes to the discrediting of conditions like these, like "Are you sure you're really sick? How do you know?" And that bothers me.
Beyond that, I am not at all a fan of "girl meets boy. boy changes girl's world" especially when it involves the girl trying to "fix" herself for the boy. The way she carelessly endangers herself just to touch him, the reckless running away, even just the drawing away from/lying to her mom — none of that behavior should be romanticized like it has been here.
It's come to my attention that this series misrepresents Islam and stereotypes the Middle East, so I've removed my rating and hidden my original review below.
I've always loved stories of djinns and magic and girls disguising themselves as boys, and I also loved how omnipresent and important the desert setting remained throughout the story. The romance was a little iffy — the progression didn't seem to flow completely naturally imo — but Jin was great, I liked him a lot. (And while I knew there was more to him than met the eye (isn't there always?) I didn't actually manage to guess who he really was!) Revolution plotlines in YA lit can go poorly (as is usually the case) or extremely well if carefully thought out and executed, and this story clearly falls into the latter category.
Spoiler
3.7 starsI've always loved stories of djinns and magic and girls disguising themselves as boys, and I also loved how omnipresent and important the desert setting remained throughout the story. The romance was a little iffy — the progression didn't seem to flow completely naturally imo — but Jin was great, I liked him a lot. (And while I knew there was more to him than met the eye (isn't there always?) I didn't actually manage to guess who he really was!) Revolution plotlines in YA lit can go poorly (as is usually the case) or extremely well if carefully thought out and executed, and this story clearly falls into the latter category.
IDK why I only gave this three stars, I'm gonna have to go back and reread because I have fond memories of the feeling I got reading it.
