Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao

3 reviews

imstephtacular's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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thecriticalreader's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The Run-Down: 
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao, a young adult novel that features two aro-ace protagonists, executes the classic tropes associated with the romance genre more effectively than most romance novels in this heartwarming, immersive, and detailed read. 
 
 
Review:  
Romantic love tends to take up all the space in popular media, and representation of ace-spec people (people who fall on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum) remains meager even as other queer representation grows. Ann Zhao seeks to counter this with Dear Wendy, a novel that features the two aromantic and asexual Wellesley freshmen who anonymously run competing love advice Instagram accounts. Sophie and Jo meet each other in an introductory Women’s and Gender Studies course and rapidly become fast friends. Their friendship grows stronger as they bond over their aroace identities and start an A-Spec club at their college. As they grow closer in the real world, however, their anonymous Instagram rivalry rapidly turns bitter. 
 
The conceit of Dear Wendy is fairly obvious: it takes the secret identity, epistolary “enemies to lovers” trope and adapts it to a friendship instead of a romance. Dear Wendy, however, is much more than the tropes that it adapts. Zhao brings the story to life with carefully crafted, three-dimensional characters who come to life on the page. Sophie and Jo each have their own pasts, cultural backgrounds, fears, anxieties, and goals in life—they are likable but not perfect. Many fiction books reserve their best character-building for their main characters, but Zhao makes sure to give the side characters lives and personalities of their own. The rich interweaving of these characters’ lives not only adds a sense of realism to the story, but it heightens the stakes as the central conflict unfolds. Furthermore, the book’s Wellesley setting makes for a much more immersive and interesting read than if the book had been set at in a generic women’s liberal arts college. If you like books with college settings (or want to re-live your college days), pick up Dear Wendy; the book perfectly recaptures the excitement, awkwardness, and unique social circumstances of college life. 
 
Zhao also uses the story to include incredibly important discussions about a-spec and other identities, all of which feel organic within the context of the story. It is rare for a book to contain such extended and carefully thought-out social discussions like this without devolving into pedantry. In particular, Zhao displays a keen awareness of how a person’s background, cultural identity, and personality affect how they approach their relationships with other people. She is not afraid to explore the thornier and emotionally difficult side of a-spec identity and allows her main characters to struggle and make mistakes as they navigate their place in the world. The word “woke” is an overused and almost meaningless term at this point in time, but there’s really no better way to describe the discourse in Dear Wendy— I mean that in the most affectionate sense, but I do think that people who come into this book unaware of common discussion points of queer internet culture may feel out of their depth in this regard. Similarly, the book’s intense use of contemporary social media and pop culture references add to its immersiveness and sense of realism, but I do think it will appear outdated in the next couple of years. If you’re at all interested in reading this book, I highly recommend you do so sooner than later. 
 
You might like this book if . . . 
·      You want to read a book with fantastic and thoughtful aroace, Asian American, and  representation
·      You like well-crafted main and side characters and a detailed, true-to-life setting
·      You want to see a trope of the romance genre creatively and expertly reimagined for the story about platonic love
 
 
You might not like this book if . . . 
·      You dislike books that use first-person dual POV
·      You are completely unfamiliar with current queer internet discourse
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elliott_the_clementine's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Dear Wendy is everything I expected it would be and more. From the excellently selected pop culture references to the myriad of fleshed out characters including and beyond main characters Sophie and Jo, Ann Zhao creates a friend-com that stands out among other young adult contemporary fiction novels. The friendship between Sophie and Jo, depicted in a perfectly trope-y plot, feels like a safe, warm hug. They are two real flawed people learning how best to love each other and themselves. As a lover of romance novels, a bisexual girl, a former gifted kid from the suburbs of Chicago, and someone who knows and remembers Ann Zhao's kindness, I cannot over-emphasize how incredible and validating Dear Wendy is to me and will be for so many others. Read it  - I hope you adore it as much as I do.

Also, I firmly endorse Sophie's recommendation of The Half of It, a very cinematically pleasing and completely adorable love story. If you love Dear Wendy, you will probably love The Half of It.
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