shane_the_reading_rat's Reviews (1.21k)

if this were just Obiefuna’s coming of age, i’d probably have really loved it (im a little coming-of-age-d out though currently, so maybe not???), but the adding of a second pov just didn’t work out.
this book portrays there being a deeply close relationship between Obi and his mother Uzoamaka, but in both of their POVs you just don’t quite feel it. Obi rarely mentions his mother, and her chapters are surprisingly sparse (and just completely go away at a certain point, due to her

dying of cancer

). honestly after this, idk if Obi mentions her more than once?? theres a big time skip right after he finds out, which leads into another problem: pacing. events that seem very important happen offpage (Uzoamaka’s death, Obi becoming closer with Aboy and eventually being discovered), and part 4 could really have focused on Obi’s relationship with his father and brother, but it just,,, didn’t.
all in all it’s definitely good, but just odd pacing and the relationship between Obifuna and Uzoamaka doesn’t feel as close as is said

not a bad book at all, its just hard for me to find the time for audiobooks versus ebooks or physical books (honestly, if i have the time to listen to something it’s probably either music or youtube) and i am about to be extremely busy due to the new school year coming up
edit: apparently just straight up lied cause i just got another audiobook on libby. pretty sure it’s just that long audiobooks arent my thing, i dont find the time super often for audiobooks and the date for when i return it counting down is stressful lmao

despite not being a parent i got a ton out of this!! favorite section was easily the one on youth sports

i think (as an american trans person), a lot of the lgbtqia+ community here just don’t really know about our own community’s history in other countries. i’ve really tried to remedy that by finding more perspectives to read and this book was extremely good for that!!
there’s something about pictures that the written word just cant quite compare to, when showing a person’s life. i think this book did extremely well at treating its subjects with respect, and not sensationalizing what it is like to be trans outside of the us/uk.
it does have a few things i could quibble with (mainly just things about how descriptions were written, such as repeatedly sharing deadnames without saying if the subject was okay with that, describing a trans man taking testosterone as “taking male hormone”, which was a little silly as everyone has some level of testosterone whether they are amab or afab.) + it would’ve been lovely if they had had a subject who was not binary ftm or mtf, or someone who was a binary trans person but gender non-comforming.

for being a teeny book its barely talking about wetlands. look i totally get that annie proulx wanted to write some nature nonfiction during quarantine but it probably should’ve just been a little essay newsletter 

(psa for anyone who follows me: im still rat_fairy !! decided to rebrand this account away from a username i picked at approximately age 16 lmao)

tbh, i skimmed a lot of the second half of this book. for me, the writing style was fun at first, but just got very old as the book went on and on. eventually it just felt like nothing was happening :/ still honestly a good book!! the writing style was just not for me

I LOVE THIS SERIES‼️‼️
currently i am unable to form a good review just finished this and my brain is full of static and love

you might like this but i really really dont :(
it was interesting enough at the beginning but the constant perspective changes are absolutely killing me. it’s not giving me time to get attached to any of the characters, and by consequence i do not fucking care about any of them