YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

The first day of senior year:

Everything is about to change. Until this moment, Sal has always been certain of his place with his adoptive gay father and their loving Mexican-American family. But now his own history unexpectedly haunts him, and life-altering events force him and his best friend, Samantha, to confront issues of faith, loss, and grief.

Suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and discovering that he no longer knows who he really is—but if Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he?

The story of me (me trying to explain things to me)/page 36: I'm enjoying this book so far! Lots of metaphors, just like in Aristotle & Dante, and his writing style is really nice. Some sentences fall a bit flat to me, but other than that I've got nothing to complain about.

Page 120/Me (in the Dark): (view spoiler)[ I have some mixed feelings about this book. I hate when they talk about things not being like books, in books. It just really annoys me. Also, his dad is almost too perfect, too quote-worthy.

Just like Aristotle & Dante, this book doesn't seem to have a plot. I loved that about Ari & Dante, but I'm not sure about it here. (hide spoiler)]

Part 3 finished: (view spoiler)[ I'm still having mixed feelings about this book. I get Mima being sick, but why did Sam's mom have to die? I just don't see what good it's doing for the story. It obviously changes the story, but I wouldn't say it's improving it. (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[ This book made me feel grateful for what I have. It's a thought-provoking book, and I love that. Sure, the sentences are a bit short sometimes, and sometimes there's just too much idealism, but there are many things worth thinking about in this book.

Some issues I had with this book:

1) Three kids and three dead mothers? Way too unrealistic, made three of the main characters seem less like individuals and more like the same person.

2) While there were many beautiful messages in this book, I felt like they were repeated a few times each. While that could be used as a strategy to make sure you really understand the message, it seemed unnecessary to me.

3) Some parts were too similar to Ari & Dante, which bothered me simply because it made me compare the two, making me think less of this book. (hide spoiler)]