1st and 2nd Book: literally show me a healthy person by Darcie Widler & So Sad Today: Personal Essays by Melissa Broder

Full honest disclosure: I have been having a really tough go this month. Maybe this whole summer? There are just too many things going on for me to focus on reading and writing for Thriced. I have failed so many times at getting focused on these responsibilities when my life has felt like it was caving in on me. Recently, my therapist said something that really broke the dam for me “make time for things that make you happy.” I know this of course, but having her say it really pushed the door open for me. Thriced makes me happy. Reading and writing has always been a consistent goodness in my life that filled a void when everything felt like it’s in chaos. As the year rounds down, I am going to make sure Thriced becomes more of priority as it does make me happy.

Okay enough water works and onto some more water works. Ironically, this week I’ve decided to tackle two alt-lit books that tackle some of the subjects I’ve been going through: i.e feeling lethargic, sadness, depression, and less than great coping mechanism.

Let’s start with the Darice Wilder first. Darice Wilder is a child of twitter. From the iconic formerly anymous twitter @333333333433333, Wilder’s book was born. A collection of thoughts stemming from boozy-nights, heartbreak, rapid sex as well as parental loss, depression, and 911 jokes, the mere 97 page book is said to expose the deepest darkest inner thoughts of a 21st century woman. With the unspoken expectations of today’s modern instant gratification world, Wilder attempts to describe herself sincerely while grappling with her mother’s death and her father’s silence. Part poetry, part prose, Literally Show Me A Healthy Person is said to be a novel at the intersection of the internet and literature. A book that has been on my radar for awhile now by a person I’ve been following on twitter for years it feels like, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into the madness of this book. It’ll be my first review on Friday!

Our 2nd book we will reviewing this week probably on Sunday, is another internet phenomena turned literature phenomena. Melissa Broder has suffered from depression and anxiety her entire life, often citing having obsessive thoughts about dying before she was even a teen. In 2012, after a series of debilitating panic attacks working PR at Penguin publishing, she began tweeting from the anonymous account @sosadtoday. The account quickly began attracting hundreds and thousands of followers including celebrity client like Miley Cryus and Katy Perry. She went public in 2015 as the author and the rest is history. In her debut essay book so sad today includes honest stories of  harrowing addictions, unrequited love affairs, therapy and antidepressants. Originally Broders’ book was set to to read earlier this year, but it was bumped out of by a different type of essay book and since Broder’s book is closer to new-age alt-lit, I think it fits perfectly here.

So there you have it. A two-parter for this week!

You can find literally show me a healthy person or So Sad Today both on Amazon or if your a better person than me get it from your local indie bookstore.

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August Theme: Is Alt Lit A-Right?

We love a good pun here at Thriced. Though that was probably a terrible pun I must admit. Recently I’ve been swarmed into a world I wish I knew about much sooner: the interesting exciting newish world of alt-lit. It’s been called everything from revolutionary to the product of “boring, infantile narcissists”.The movement has been described as liberating as well as sexist. The authors have been named bright stars and lazy self-righteous idiots. This month we will explore what it alt-lit really is and for the first time in Thriced history we will actually decide something. We will decide for once and for all if alt-lit is actually any good or just a load of pretentious twats. But first what exactly is alt-lit and how did it start?

Alternative Literature stylized as Alt-Lit is a term used to describe a popular literary movement sparked by the Digital Age. Alt-Lit usually consists of authors drawing on and publishing their works via the internet in all forms from poetry, new media, and unconventional prose. Originally the term was coined in late 2011 by now defunct Tumblr/Twitter account “Alt Lit Gossip” created by Cory Stephens. The accounts covered writers from alternative/indie publications like Pop Serial, HTLMgiant, and the ever popular Muumuu House. This was perhaps the golden age of Alt-Lit. And from it sprung a butt-load of provincial twitter’s and “edgy” authors who published books with long-sparlling titles and interesting prose. In my humble opinion, we have actually read something that could/should be considered Alt-Lit this year: Zinzi Clemmons debut novel What We Lose. It was a collection of long-form story-driven pieces, vignettes into moments, singular poetry, graphs, and even newspaper clippings.

If we asked some on the male popular figures around the Alt-Lit scene if Clemmons would be classify as alt-lit, they probably wouldn’t agree. Unfortunately this is in apart to do with the misogynistic leanings of the alt-lit genre. There is a lot of infantilizing with the male popular writers, a lot of abusive behavior passed off as dreamy behavior and a lack of shine given to the female authors vindictive of the scene. Several of the popular figures in the alt-lit scene has seen be outed as sexual abusers, to the surprise of no-one in a 2018 post me-too world. It begs the question: will I be reading any of those authors during this month? Considering my strong feelings on sexual abuse, so much so that I didn’t read Junot Diaz’. I’ve decided I am going to read mostly female alt-write authors this month. Two who I would’ve read some other time anyway, but I think it is super important to highlight them opposed to some of the more problematic men. That doesn’t mean we won’t read and critique an alt-lit book by a problematic man (I mean try finding anything written by a man who isn’t problematic), but the majority will be the woman of the alt-write scene.

I’m intrigued, but also nervous to start this month! It could be a total boring disaster or I could completely learn a new way of continuing the literary renaissance forward!

*Please note: Footnotes for July will be posted tomorrow along with an update about the last book for June! As usual your girl is a bit behind! Thanks for your support as usual!*

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Saturday Review| Monday’s Not Coming|Tiffany D. Jackson

Toni Morrison once said, if there’s a book that you want to read and you can’t find it, write it. I feel like Tiffany D. Jackson lives by this motto. She found a gap in the market to discuss the real heartbreaking issue of missing children of color___ especially young black girls. Through a tale of grief and friendship, Tiffany crafts a story that exposes so many tragedies within our community from sexism to homophobia to failing education systems and responsibility of community. Who is responsible for the warfare of children: the government, the parents, or our communities. Warning: This Review will contain spoilers!

What I liked:

Tiffany does a great job of committing to her world-building and does not hold back any punches with people’s flaws. There is nothing sugarcoated about how gossip works, homophobia thrives, how bullying manifests itself and child abuse is swept under the rug is many minority and impoverished communities. Tiffany is really good at crafting worlds that are close to my heart and hers without trying to hold back. The characters with all of their highs and lows fell true to me. Particularly the very real relationship between Claudia and Monday, and the unwrangling. We have all had a friend, hell maybe we’ve even been that friend who is elusive about their family, who has unexplained bruises, confusing stories or straight up lies, who gets angry or triggered by unexplained things. Sometimes when your young and just trying figure out your own life, it’s possible that you overlook these things or commonly you see them, but don’t know what to do about it. The raw feeling that some of those flashbacks gave me really shook me to the core in a good-way. I appreciate Tiffany’s writing style and her ability to well go there. She proves time and time again she isn’t afraid to show the true underbelly of society we don’t want to talk about. I commend her for again not shying away from the ugliness while attempting to discuss a really important issue. I really liked how when Monday was found we are left to wonder how more than a year went by without anyone except for Claudia (and eventually her teacher) caring about what happened to Monday. Young black children, especially young black girls bodies are not valued in the same way as their counterparts and when these girls go missing it seems that no one cares. Tiffany crafts how ugly and disturbing this is beautifully. My favorite moment being when Claudia goes into a police station to try to tell a police officer her friend is missing and they convince her that Monday probably ran away. The officer goes as far as showing her a wall of missing girls and saying essentially that Claudia is keeping him from these cases by bothering him. Heartbreaking, but very real.

What I didn’t like:

The biggest con for me and maybe this can provide a little bit of discussion, was the plot. There is something going on in this book that made me a little uncomfortable while I reading it. In my humble opinion there is a difference between inspiration and theft.  Unfortunately, I’m not decided on if that’s what happened here for their in a case to be made. The truth of the matter is I know this story. The story Tiffany D. Jackson laid out before us could’ve started with “based on a true story” because ripped the entire thing from a headline. The real story occured a couple of years ago, In June 2015, a Mitchelle Blair, a Detroit woman plead guilty to killing her daughter and son. She was arrested after being evicted from her apartment and her children’s bodies were discovered. The woman proudly boasts about the murders claiming that she murdered them after they molested their younger sibling. Sounds familiar? Besides those similarities some of their names were unique like that of Tiffany’s characters. The amount that was taken from this real case shocked and upset me a little. It’s not like writers shouldn’t take inspiration from real like, but i felt a little uncomfortable with how much of the tragic story was “retold” to put it lightly.

As the plot unfolded, I could completely call what was going to happen because I knew the story. It made for a very unenjoyable and often distracting reading experience that did not compliment well with  the scattered timelines the story is told it. Lastly, by the time we go to the the reveal that Monday had died two years earlier and Claudia had lost her memory, I was too distracted to care. It felt like an after thought, a Trojan horse to create some semblance of a second mystery.

Would I recommend 

I’m torn on this. I love Tiffany’s fluid writing style and her rawness, but there are aspects of the book I did not agree with necessarily. Overall, I think that the social issues raised in the book are more important than my misgivings so I would recommend the book!

TLDR: MONDAY’S NOT COMING IS A COMPLICATED TALE EXPOSING THE UNDERBELLIES OF MISSING GIRLS OF COLOR AND THE LACK OF OUTRAGE OR CARE. WHILE DISCUSSING BULLYING, RACISM  AND SEXISM IN THE MODERN AGE IT TAKES AT LOOK AT THESE TOPICS IN A RAW HEARTBREAKING WAY WHILE CO-OPTING A TRUE STORY. 

RATING:  ★★★☆☆

How do you feel about authors co-opting true stories? What do you think about inspiration vs theft? Do you think the responsibility of children’s care is from the government or the community? Let’s Discuss in the comments!

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2nd Book: Monday’s NOT Coming|Tiffany D. Jackson

This month’s YA theme as been awesome for me. I’ve even read some books that I won’t officially be reviewing at least this month. So much so, that I’ve lapsed on the actual books that I’m supposed to be reading. instead reading garbage like “The Luckiest Girl alive” #sorrynotsorry. Another rant for another day. This week we’re reading something that has been on my TBR for a long time. That is of course Monday’s Not Coming by the illsturasious Tiffany D. Jackson.

Tiffany D. Jackson is one of the few newer black authors I know who tackles hard-hitting issues along with a thriller tip. Her debut novel Allegedly was one of the best books I read last year and something I still think about. It is any wonder that Monday’s Not Coming has been on my radar for awhile now. It tackles two of my favorite subjects: missing children and racism. The plot is simple Monday Charles is missing and only her best friend Claudia seems to notice. When Monday doesn’t show up for the first day and then first weeks of school, Claudia knows something is wrong. There is no way Monday would abandon her school alone. What’s worse is that Monday’s family is less than forthcoming about her whereabouts. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance she realizes that sad truth that no one can actually remember the last time they saw Monday? A harrowing story of race, media, and missing children Monday’s Not Coming posing a beautiful question: why are missing children of color’s not a priority? Really excited to read this one, pulling me out of my blogging funk!

You can find Monday’s Not Coming Amazon or if your a better person than me get it from your local indie bookstore.

Let’s connect friends on instagram @thricedclub and twitter @thricedclub

July Release Roundups

July as we have established is all about the Young Adult Fiction for the Soul. That YA that just hits us in all the deep parts of our core to rip at our heartstrings. For July Release Roundups, I’ve chosen through books that also elevate the same sentiment. You’ll find no cute, poof pieces here. July is all about that nitty gritty.

MOST BUZZED ABOUT: The Last Time I Lied|Riley Sager

National bestselling author of Final Girls Riley Sager is back at it again with another hyped up mystery about young woman and dangerous choices. Truth corner: I am really wary of male mystery authors especially those who a) aren’t Stephen King or Walter Mosley and b) write exclusively about women who are subjected to violence. I recognized this potential bias, but it is for good reason. I don’t have a great track record with reading male mystery authors who write about women (I’m looking at you Jo Nesbo). I cannot deny however that Riley Sager does not seem like that type of mystery writer. Two Truths and a Lie seems like a thriller right after my own heart: a group of girls played the super middle school game two truths and a lie in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. It was the last time Emma or anyone else saw any of the girls alive. Now a rising star in the NYC art scene, Emma uses her trauma in her art with massive canvases of dark leaves and muddy forests. Her paintings catch the attention of a socialite and wonder of the newly reopened Camp Nightingale, Francesa Harris-White. She offers Emma a portion as a painting instructor there which Emma uses as an oppertunity to explore what really happened to her friends. Immediately it is clear that all is not right the Camp as Emma works through the drudges of her past, she realizes the closer she gets to the truth, the deadly the price. Two Truths and a Lie sounds like something I would’ve dreamed, but couldn’t execute this creepily and from all of the glowing reviews I’d say I’m right. Maybe just maybe when all the hype dies down, I’ll be convinced to give this one a try!

Two Truths and a Lie is out now and sold whenever books are sold.

PREDICTED SLEEPER HIT:  No One Tells You This: A Memoir|Glynnis MacNicol

I originally heard about this book on the amazing podcast Call Your Girlfriend starring two of my best-friends-in-my-head Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, and produced by Gina Delvac. If you ever have any free-time I implore you to listen to the pod in-which they proclaimed long-distance besties discuss everything from politics to poop and feminist theory for the 21st century woman. They have coined the phrase “shine theory”, in-which woman highlight other successful women they admire. On this particular episode they discussed Summer Books for 2018 and in it they interviewed Glynnis Macnicol. In her new memoir, No One Tells You This: A Memoir she discussed her life as a single motherless woman over 40 and how to she crafted a great life without these things. Even in 2018, woman are pressured into doing things that are in gender-traditional sense: get married, have babies  and live that life. Glynnis discusses how once she turned 40 she felt a great sigh of relief that she would finally be free from people asking her when she would do those traditional things. She also became increasingly angry how there were no stories showing a partnerless childless life that is also happy, fulfilling and not pitiful or spoiled. As in traditional media we often regard woman over 40 who are unmarried and without child as “crazy” or “sad.” She wanted to change that. Macinol through her passionate memoir, explains how quote “If the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child, what then?” As she works through being the primary caretaker for her mother’s medical decline as well as a big sense of financial childless independence, Glynnis bares it all. Though this book as been very buzzy with praise ranging from Buzzed naming it as one of the most “Exciting Summer Books” to Vogue putting in on the list of “13 Books to Thrill, Entertain, and Sustain You This Summer”, I really haven’t seen a lot of people in the book blogging sphere reading it. For that reason, I’ve named it the sleeper-hit as I feel like No One Tells You This, will have a big break in a couple of months!

Released just last week on July 10th No One Tells You This: A Memoir is sold whenever books are sold.

MOST ANTICIPATED: The Cheerleaders

A lot of people sleep on Kara Thomas. Kara Thomas is quite possibly one of the brightest newer mystery authors who just shine. As a frequent mystery reader and aspiring mystery writer, I admire her writing style so much. Each of her novels (especially Little Monsters), leave me thinking about them for days. So when it was announced that she was working on a new piece and it was coming out this summer I couldn’t wait. What’s even more intriguing was the plot. The Cheerleaders is about a the town Sunnybrook and why through a series of accidental (or planned) events there are no more cheerleaders. Five years ago two girls died in car accident, then two others were killed by the man next door. The police killed him and no one knew why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last to die, in an apparent suicide. They were all cheerleaders. After she died, Sunnybrook High disbanded and banned the cheer squad. Now with Monica attending Sunnybrook High the faculty and students want to create a way to remember the lost cheerleaders. It’s not that easy for Monica however, her world starts to fall apparent with new weird occurrences each day: weird notes, an-old cell phone, and a strange new friend at school. It becomes apparent that what happened five years ago isn’t over. People know ore then they let on and Monica is determined to get to the bottom of it. Tagline time: There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe. Amazing right? There’s nothing more that I love than cutesy little towns with dark secrets, murders and all. And with my girl Kara Thomas behind it, there is no way it won’t be good. I’m just gonna expose myself here: I’ve already preordered the book. It will be read sometime this year. Not this month, but very soon!

The Cheerleaders will be released on July 31st, but you can reorder from Barnes and Noble or Amazon!

There you have it! Another month! Another set of releases. If you want to read any of these books haul your butt to your local indie bookstore and if you must (because of laziness) you can always order anyone of them on Amazon/Barnes and Noble.

Let’s connect friends on instagram @thricedclub and twitter @thricedclub

Tuesday Review: We Are Okay| Nina Lacour

There are some books that you hear about constantly and when you finally read them you get upset for buying into the hype. We Are Okay is not one of those books. Nina LaCour has done something that I thought was impossible: she’s made me appreciate a character-driven book when I am normally an action-driven book-reader. With her beautifully poetic words and subtle themes, I breezed through the small book. Coming out of the other side with complicated feelings, I’ll be thinking about We are Okay for a very long time.

Originally published: February 14, 2017 |Author: Nina LaCour |Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, New Adult |Publisher: Dutton Books, Penguin

What I liked:

I hope Nina LaCour wouldn’t be offended by this, but I have to say it: This woman is an WRIT-ER. Not just a writer. But a WRIT-ER. Nina writes in the way that I wish I could. There is a level of complexity in her sentence structure that isn’t flashy or super wordy. She says the exact amount of subtlety to really hit you. I found myself wondering why I hadn’t read anything else by her.

Let’s talk about the setting for a moment. As a Native New Yorker, an upstate New York Winter college (Vassar or maybe Sarah Lawrence) was as perfect mood for grief. The connection the main character Marin has to Jane Eyre is spot on. It made me wonder: is Nina writing the next new female gothic? Another discussion for another day.

Until you spend a winter in New York with its sleepy depressing glow, you can’t understand how perfect of a choose this setting is to describe grief. Luckily, if you haven’t Nina spends a lot of time describing the New York winter’s malevolent space. In the way, the New York winter is a very important atmospheric character for We Are Okay.

Speaking of character, We Are Okay is a very character driven and one-liner broody novel. Considering that there are really only three or so major characters, we really get to know them.

The main characters are Marin, a late teen who picked up and vanished to her sleepy New York college without telling anyone back home.

Mabel, her best friend who’s come to visit her.

And Gramp’s, Marin’s grandpa who we only know of in the post-Morten sense, as we only see Gramp’s in flashbacks.

Everyone other character is shown or talked about in passing, flashbacks for mere seconds or in like two pages. This works to LaCour’s advantage though, without additional characters we are able to sit with the grief of the few characters.

With as little spoilers as possible, Marin was a character who frustrated me in the beginning and I think that is Nina’s intention. By the end, I grew very protective of her. Nina made me reminisce about my own life, loss, and how I grieved. Marin became a mirror of myself and I think others will find this as well. Though I have never ran across country to college to forget about my former life, I’ve done similar things when in deep depression. As time went on, I wanted to just hold Marin and explain that as the title suggests “We Are Okay”, which is a compliment on the writing. LaCour humanizes the characters and creates sympathy for all main characters.

This went doubly for Mabel, who frustrated me even more at times. By the end of the novel, I realized how Mabel was signifying another type of loss: the loss of losing a friend. Which is a subject that many authors try to tackle and fail. Nina handles this topic with just hand-holding grace that I was left knowing my angry with Mabel was misplaced.

While Nina doesn’t offer clear cut-advice about how to handle grief, she intensely explores types of coping mechanics. Some people run away. Some people stay in denial. Some people use new romantic love interests as distractions. The real way these themes were discussed polarizes me as I haven’t seen it fleshed out this well in any YA/NA novel before. There was so much love expressed especially in the last few pages that I won’t forget for a long time.

What I didn’t Like:

This is just a personal gripe and I don’t think it was Nina’s intention necessarily. The middle of the book, though beautiful became a little bit tropey and lacked a lot of movement. For the rest of my review, I must issue some spoilers as it tailored to plot. So if you don’t want to read spoilers, skip to the TLDR:

The tropiest area of We are Okay has to be when conveniently the electric goes out and Marin and Mabel have to stay at the really creepy groundskeepers house. I wish I could say that I didn’t roll my eyes really hard, but I did.

In additional, there were a lot of unnecessary flashbacks that just felt forced and I couldn’t get behind. While I enjoyed the ones with Marin and her grandfather, almost every other one left me a little bit annoyed. I think the inclusion of additional friendships in the flashbacks were not needed.

The romantic relationship between Marin and Mabel was heartbreaking and honestly left me a little mad. I got the feeling that Mabel never told her parents that she and Marin slept with each other, otherwise why would they be so ready to adopt Marin? Maybe that is a reality that happens, but it just feels very un-progressive? Also, Mabel has a boyfriend at her respective college. This is a topic that is only briefly discussed and it felt like it a looming topic over the entire trip. To that point, Marin and Mabel’s felt romance was just so underutilized and then forcefully explained within a couple of pages. In the end, it felt almost as if Nina was a bit scared to go into their coupled story. Maybe she thought it would distract from the themes at hand? But then it shouldn’t have be included at all.

It is totally fine that Marin and Mabel don’t really end up together in the end. But the idea that Marin would now de-facto become Mabel’s adopted sister? That just didn’t sit right with me. It felt almost to a lesser extent of a “Bury Your Gays” ending. Maybe that wasn’t LaCour’s intention, but that’s how it felt. Especially when you place this relationship with Marin’s very underdeveloped not clear relationship with her roommate Emily. Again, that was a plot point that felt like a giant elephant in the room. Why include this detail if you don’t want to explore it?

The whole Marin and Mabel’s relationship was confusing: We were once lesbians or bisexual best friends in love, but now that you haven’t spoken to me for three months after your grandpa and only family died. I’ve moved onto to a new heteronormative relationship, so now you can be my sister? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t sit right with me. I know Nina is a queer woman too herself and credits her wife to inspiring this story, but something about those details did not sit right with me.

 Would I recommend: 

Despite the above, obviously I would recommend this. I am still thinking about that ending were I actually blubbered like a baby. There were just so many lyric beautiful quotes too pull, I couldn’t even pick one. We Are Okay is a book that everyone will get something from.

TLDR: WE ARE OKAY IS A HEARTBREAKING RAW STORY OF LOVE, LOSS, DEPRESSION AND GRIEF THAT READERS AT ANY AGE WILL WALK AWAY WITH SOMETHING.

RATING:  ★★★★☆

Did you love We Are Okay? What’s your favorite quote? Let’s Discuss in the comments!

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1st Book: We Are Okay| Nina LaCour

It seems like I am the only person in America who hasn’t read Nina LaCour’s We are Okay. The plot is as illusive as it is simple: Marin has left her entire old life and the people in it back home along the California coast. As Winter break comes to her NYC college, everyone else has gone home to see their families and friends. Marin plans to spend the entire time wallowing in grief inside her hotel room, pretending that her past does not exist. That is until her best friend Mabel decides to come visit her. Mabel is not content with letting Marin live in her new life, but instead stirs up all of the skeletons in her closet she does not want to face. Will Marin and Mabel be able to heal together and move forward into a brighter future.

To say I’ve nearly spoiled We Are Okay for myself is an understatement. It’s hard to not call this book hyped. It was everywhere in 2017. From winning the 2017  Printz Award Young Adult award to being named Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. And the awards don’t stop there. Seventeen named it a best book of the year. Bustled named it one of the Best Books of the Year. The TODAY show must-read. If it had anymore hype, promo, good reviews or press, it would literally be a John Green novel. But please god let’s pray it’s not. And from all accounts We Are Okay is slated to be a beautiful heartbreaking story of love, friendship, and growing up. I decided that it would be the perfect time to read now since a lot of the hype as died down now that Nina is working on her new book. I am truly excited and hopeful that it will give me the feels everywhere says it does. Hopefully some tears will ensue!

If you’re like me and are the only other person left in America who hasn’t read We are Okay, you can find it at Amazon or if your a better person than me get it from your local indie bookstore.

Let’s connect friends on instagram @thricedclub and twitter @thricedclub

 

 

July Theme: YA for the Soul

It should come to no surprise to anyone that one of my favorite genres is probably young adult fiction. Abbreviated of course as YA, young adult fiction has taught me so much about life even though I’m pretty far away from my teenaged years. What YA does for me is fill me with an ability to look back at some of the toughest times in my life while seeing how other authors craft that time. Some of the deepest, cutest, most challenging reads I have ever read are YA books. With YA you can get the best of both worlds while deeply thinking about the ever changing worlds in-which teens are living in constantly. For the month of July we will be reading three Young Adult books that will challenge our society today.

When I was a kid my grandmother bought me the iconic and very 90s Chicken Soup for the Soul. Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of books including inspirational short stories about life with loads to anecdotal advice for people. The three young adult fiction books we’ll read this month I like to think of this way: anecdotal stories that will teach and inspire us because of their heavy world themes. I really did not shy away from books that are to said to be heartbreaking, controversial, and thoughtful. One of the most excited I’ve been in awhile, I can’t wait to read some enlightening YA fiction this book. I hope you’ll join me!

Let’s connect friends on instagram @thricedclub and twitter @thricedclub

Sunday Review|People Like Us| Dana Mele

 

 

BOOK: People Like Us

Author: Dana Mele

Publication date: February 27, 2018

Pages: 

 Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Mystery

Publisher: C.P Puntam’s Sons, Penguin Random House

 

 

 

June has been a really difficult month for me both personally and professionally and I just couldn’t dedicate myself to Thriced as much as I wanted too. That should be left for the footnotes, but I only read two books this month. We’re gonna read the last book of June this first week in July while reading the 1st book for July and double up, but more on that later. We still have the very pressing review of People Like Us by Dana Mele. A read that I wanted to love so much, but just ended up feeling the too many tropes were used unsuccessfully.

What I liked:

But first what I liked. Mean Girls meets The L Word meets Pretty Little Liars, I am one for a good messy boarding school drama. add that beautiful layer of LBGT+ acceptance presented in a very good way just as how people are and you got yourself a very progressive concept. People Like Us can be very delicious at times. Deception between each girl runs deep and I was entertained for a large portion of the book. I liked how each girl had their own specific set of issues that were explored (though some better than others) and used to further the plot. I liked how it explored pansexuality and bisexuality in a real way. The idea that woman being gay or bisexual was not something used for men/boys. There was a really great moment were the characters explored homophobia between women which I feel like isn’t explored enough. The way that it unfolded was in a way that I haven’t seen before in other books. Overall, the highlight of People Like Us is the idea and intentions of the plot. Along with some great misdirections, it made for a compelling mystery in many parts.Here is a spoiler that I liked so skip the next part if you haven’t read the book:

June Footnotes| The Overworked and Afraid + Final book of June: Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

Boo did the month of June really take it out of me. I have gotten really into the swing of my real adult job. In the attempt adult better than I’ve ever adulated before I’ve taken on so much more responsibility than I ever thought I would this year. And it’s only increasing by the second. Many nights this mont I’ve spent stuffing my face with pizza in front of a work computer just attempting to get shit done. And it’s really made my writing and this blog suffer. I can barely stick my head outside to see what really is going on in the world. and boy how the world sucking this month. Here’s a couple of things that had me reeling through work

1. The immigrant separation news killed me as a child of immigrants, my mother being first generation, my grandmother and her family braving across oceans to find a better life. My dad braving the same fate crossing from islands to come here and find scanturary. The idea that our government would tear and terrorize people like this does not surprise me. I’ve heard the stories from my elders of other times in this country they did the same, but it sickened me to see it so vividly. it sickened me to know these dentention centers with children have been around since the Obama era and exist right here in New York City.

2. Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz, a 15 year old boy was brutally murdered by a gang of knife wielding assailants right here in NYC, in the Bronx. Apparently it was a case of mistaken identity or maybe a set-up, but they attacked this young boy in a bodega and bodega owner did nothing to prevent it. Instead yelling at him to leave as he bled out on the floor. He dragged himself to the hospital and died there. No one in the area called for help. What’s even crazier is there is a video of this event in graphic detail. One I refuse to watch, one that I turn off when it comes on the news. I haven’t seen the video. I refuse to watch people dying and it upsets me that we live in a world were everyone’s death can be recorded and distributed like its nothing. The story really hit close to home because he reminds me so much of my family. My cousins. Young people I have in my life. He actually looks like so many of my family and to imagine that someone so young could be taken for nothing just hurts me deeply. Luckily the majority of his attackers were caught, but more needs to be done about the violence in our neighborhoods and that shouldn’t be over-policing and underfunding. #justiceforjunior

3) Our despicable government for the second time in a row failed to recognize Pride month. In an act of blanat disregard and disgust they honored this month was sent to me as a message to undermine and erase our existence. I of course observe Pride month to the best of my ability and even dedicated this month to only reading works of LBGTIA themes. Since I missed one with how busy I was, I’m extending that theme to include some works of LBGTIA themes within our new theme this month. I’ll also be reading two books this week, one to complete June’s theme and one for the new July theme. The third book to complete our Pride theme is memoir actually, one that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. Its by someone who inspires me everyday to fight for the betterment of oppressed groups. Her visibility as a black trans woman and an advocate for LBGT and black issues as been eye-opening while her entertainment work and writing as been inspiring for a whole host other reasons. I’m of course talking about the unmatched Janet Mock and her NYTIMES bestseller Redefining Realness.

We will follow Janet from her birth growing up multicultural poor and trans in America offering insight into the world of trans-youth and POC alike. With her accessible language, she will show all her strengths and weakness in the quest for realness. With June turning into July there was no way I wasn’t going to read this memoir. It is so important for me to uplight these voices in our trying times.

Normally I would be a cute quote here overlooking the month and I could only think of one cliché:

-Better late than never,

Thriced