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fantasynovel's review
3.0
I started out loving it, but it got worse each chapter. It was fun to read about Cammi's life in Mexico City, but after that, it felt like the book was more a summary than an actual novel. Characters like Tiggy, Willow, and Milly were two-dimensional, and Cammi's supposed boyfriend, Amadeo, showed up for a total of like 5 pages and had no personality at all besides behind hot. It made good points about immigration, race, class, and the intersection of all three, but in the end, it just wasn't written thoroughly enough. It felt like reading Spark Notes.
Edit: Reading through other ppl's reviews, I'm realizing that the race aspect was handled even worse than I thought. And Cammi sucks, obviously. (Also, totally forgot about Tapestries' cultural appropriation. That was crazy.)
Edit: Reading through other ppl's reviews, I'm realizing that the race aspect was handled even worse than I thought. And Cammi sucks, obviously. (Also, totally forgot about Tapestries' cultural appropriation. That was crazy.)
chuskeyreads's review against another edition
2.0
Um... this one was not for me.
Camilla is a teen who has a famous telenovela star for a mother. I loved how the author weaves Spanish language throughout the story to enrich Cammi’s Hispanic heritage and culture. YA definitely needs more of that.
Her mom’s famous, and Cammi’s annoyed that other girls want to come over and get her mother’s autograph. Starstruck teenage girls acting like starstruck teenage girls, and Cammi can’t understand why they’re acting this way. Seriously?! I just couldn’t get past Cammi’s constant whiny complaining. Ugh!
Camilla is a teen who has a famous telenovela star for a mother. I loved how the author weaves Spanish language throughout the story to enrich Cammi’s Hispanic heritage and culture. YA definitely needs more of that.
Her mom’s famous, and Cammi’s annoyed that other girls want to come over and get her mother’s autograph. Starstruck teenage girls acting like starstruck teenage girls, and Cammi can’t understand why they’re acting this way. Seriously?! I just couldn’t get past Cammi’s constant whiny complaining. Ugh!
lanica's review against another edition
4.0
Rich (no, really really rich) girl from Mexico City moves to LA while her mom shots a TV show. Everyone at her new school assumes she is a 'scholarship kid' and her mom's a maid - and probably 'an illegal'. She is so stunned by this racism that she doesn't know how to react...so she doesn't and the assumptions continue. After a while, she just goes with it to see how racist people can be...and by the time she wants to tell the truth...it feels like it's too late.
A very interesting look at cross-cultural racism told from a Mexican girl's perspective, who has only ever known what it was to be surrounded by other Mexicans. Going from 'no racism because we are all alike' to everyone in America has a different 'look' about them is a great 'new' way to look at a topic that is all too relevant today.
I highly recommend this book to students, teachers, and anyone wanting to see the world from a different perspective.
As a side note - my sons who are fluent in Spanish found it annoying that every time the characters would say something in Spanish, they would then translate it into English. "Even when it was obvious!" So, if you are a native Spanish speaker - just letting you know that this was written for a non-native audience. But, the story is so unique I would still recommend it to native speakers.
A very interesting look at cross-cultural racism told from a Mexican girl's perspective, who has only ever known what it was to be surrounded by other Mexicans. Going from 'no racism because we are all alike' to everyone in America has a different 'look' about them is a great 'new' way to look at a topic that is all too relevant today.
I highly recommend this book to students, teachers, and anyone wanting to see the world from a different perspective.
As a side note - my sons who are fluent in Spanish found it annoying that every time the characters would say something in Spanish, they would then translate it into English. "Even when it was obvious!" So, if you are a native Spanish speaker - just letting you know that this was written for a non-native audience. But, the story is so unique I would still recommend it to native speakers.
ebroeffle's review against another edition
3.0
I love Karla Souza and it was fun to hear her read this.
maryehavens's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book in that it was a light read (or listen).
It wasn't too complicated and seemed a bit sitcom-ish (or telenovela-ish?) with the lying. I wanted Camilla to suffer a bit more considering all the lying she did but I guess she suffered enough.
The narrator did a great job with the accents and I enjoyed listening to her.
Overall - good :) I think the author achieved her goal of getting all listeners to really think about the first generation experience and maybe we'll all have a bit more grace with each other.
It wasn't too complicated and seemed a bit sitcom-ish (or telenovela-ish?) with the lying. I wanted Camilla to suffer a bit more considering all the lying she did but I guess she suffered enough.
The narrator did a great job with the accents and I enjoyed listening to her.
Overall - good :) I think the author achieved her goal of getting all listeners to really think about the first generation experience and maybe we'll all have a bit more grace with each other.
sasha_in_a_box's review
1.0
I am having a bad book streak. I did not read this recently, but I am having a reviewing books streak - it's a bad combo, because it makes me even more mad at the bad books I am forced to revisit. This was promising: the daughter of a Mexican soap opera star moves to the US with her family and tries to adapt to the new world while battling stereotypes. Well, let me tell you who needs a lesson in battling stereotypes: it's this here author person. She seriously needs to reevaluate the way she views human beings.
Let me explain: this girl is very rich, and starts attending a posh private school in the US. She wears designer clothes and has amazing hair. Her classmates make assumptions, in a very unlikely way, that her parents are a maid and a gardener, and the protagonist, instead of putting them in place on their racist assumptions/brushing it off and schooling the ignorance out of them/doing literally anything else, goes with it. She pretends to have hand-offs from her parents' employers and even goes as far as pretending to take the bus (Ubering to the nearest bus stop) so that she can do what, exactly? Prove to them how culturally insensitive they are? They are, of course, but it's so cruel and harmful to go out of your way to feed their ignorance and assume that they are not even trying to become better. I get that it's not the job of minorities to go around educating every single ignorant person, but seriously? What kind of point is this book making, praising this deliberate breeding of ignorance? And it's passed off as some kind of ultimately good thing? As if it strengthened their fake friendship? Fuck you, book.
Not only is this terribly written and underdeveloped, this book is an actively harmful piece of trash that tears down so much work that immigrants and other underrepresented people have done in battling stereotypes and assumptions. It's a lot of work, disabusing people of their ignorance or wrong information, and it's fair if you're tired. It's ok to not want to educate every single person who says something stupid. But it's SO NOT OKAY to go around and laugh at people who don't know better, and to willingly feed them uneducated garbage so you can feel superior.
I have read a lot of imperfect books, but there is almost always a redeeming quality to them. This, however, made me very angry and disgusted. I hope the author learns from other negative reviews that she shouldn't go around stirring the hate pot. Go and shine a light on the ugly crap people go through and do to each other, but don't contribute to it. You better not want to be part of the problem when you write your next one, because you really blew it on this one.
Let me explain: this girl is very rich, and starts attending a posh private school in the US. She wears designer clothes and has amazing hair. Her classmates make assumptions, in a very unlikely way, that her parents are a maid and a gardener, and the protagonist, instead of putting them in place on their racist assumptions/brushing it off and schooling the ignorance out of them/doing literally anything else, goes with it. She pretends to have hand-offs from her parents' employers and even goes as far as pretending to take the bus (Ubering to the nearest bus stop) so that she can do what, exactly? Prove to them how culturally insensitive they are? They are, of course, but it's so cruel and harmful to go out of your way to feed their ignorance and assume that they are not even trying to become better. I get that it's not the job of minorities to go around educating every single ignorant person, but seriously? What kind of point is this book making, praising this deliberate breeding of ignorance? And it's passed off as some kind of ultimately good thing? As if it strengthened their fake friendship? Fuck you, book.
Not only is this terribly written and underdeveloped, this book is an actively harmful piece of trash that tears down so much work that immigrants and other underrepresented people have done in battling stereotypes and assumptions. It's a lot of work, disabusing people of their ignorance or wrong information, and it's fair if you're tired. It's ok to not want to educate every single person who says something stupid. But it's SO NOT OKAY to go around and laugh at people who don't know better, and to willingly feed them uneducated garbage so you can feel superior.
I have read a lot of imperfect books, but there is almost always a redeeming quality to them. This, however, made me very angry and disgusted. I hope the author learns from other negative reviews that she shouldn't go around stirring the hate pot. Go and shine a light on the ugly crap people go through and do to each other, but don't contribute to it. You better not want to be part of the problem when you write your next one, because you really blew it on this one.
sleepygirlreads_'s review against another edition
3.0
It was ok. Some of the events and feelings of the main character seemed kind of childish to me. It was intriguing though.
rosabelle's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-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
3.75
emrache's review against another edition
2.0
In theory, this book premise seemed intriguing. In practice, it was too heavy-handed without quite enough story.