I tried with this one. On paper I should have loved it. I’m from brooklyn, I’m not Puerto Rican but I’m “ethnic”, and politically I bet I’m 110% aligned with the author.
There were some cool moments which kept me engaged through the first 110 pages or so but then I had to stop. It just felt like a manifesto but one that I’d already read a bunch of times.
Not to mention there were some plot holes that didn’t make sense. Like one character being gay and closeted but… also nobody in his community or family was homophobic, so why did he have to be? Hat was never explained, like the plot point was taken from a novel in the 40s but transplanted to today.
It was like the author wanted to make a political point but then pulled the punch because she didn’t want to make any of her heroes come across as flawed in any way. Meanwhile any political points the author was making were so facile and obvious that they just didn’t land. Yes gentrification and colonialism are bad. I agree. But a non fiction article would be more interesting than this to me at least.
And I think that’s my overarching issue with the book. The villains were all mustache twisty evil colts and the protagonists were all kind loving brilliant and beautiful. Did anybody else have a similar reaction?
by js4873