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writingcaia's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
A powerful story that deals with so much from domestic violence, violence against women, repeating cycles, breaking cycles, poverty, to friendship, love, women empowerment, and fútbol.
Furia, is Camila, a girl who dreams of being a futbolera (soccer player) something forbidden by law in Argentina just decades before. But, she’s lying to everyone about it, except her brother, a famous player, but not as good as she can can be even if money and fame wise no women will ever reach it. And, there are still more lies keeping her away from her truths.
Her lies are protection, from a family home that is corrosive. Her mother and father have a strained relationship and the threat of violence is impeding in Camila’s home, even her brother speaks up as if violence against women was normal, and there’s also violence outside and all around her, girls go missing everyday, and every other day a women is killed by a men.
Her parents will never support her, even her mom, a women who should fight for her, to break the cycle seems stuck and erased.
Then there’s Diego her childhood friend and love, who’s also a football player now playing in Italy, famous and rich, but he has come back to woe her and confuse her and make her love him again, still she’s trying to keep her goal of being a professional player in her mind and not get lost in him.
But, lies and truths, desires and fears will all be tested and exposed.
Camila has to decide if she is Furia or not, and if she has the resolve to be honest and break the cycle.
Absolutely adored it!
The writing is accessible and engaging, the pages fly by, the passion for the game and for family and love are all there and brilliantly portrayed, I felt everything as if I was Camila and I’d love to have kept reading about her and the children of Argentina who want to break the cycles, especially the girls.
¡Ni una menos! ¡Vivas nos queremos!
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Gaslighting, Violence, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death, Murder, Colonisation, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail
leahkarge's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Sexism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, and Medical content
Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy
whimsicalish's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death
beautifulpaxielreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Lies have short legs.
What a big-hearted roar of a novel this is.
In Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez skilfully and explosively explores the intersection between misogyny and football (soccer as we know it in Australia, fútbol in Spanish) that exists in Argentina.
On the pitch playing for her women's team, Camila is the fearless, brilliant "La Furia". Off the pitch, however, life is a bit more complicated. As well as the very real threat she faces just by walking home after dark, she has to deal with her overbearing, bullying father, her kind but cynical mother, and her elder brother Pablo, whose career in the professional men's league feels like a shadow she can't escape from under.
Then there's Diego, her childhood sweetheart - who has returned home for a visit after a dazzling career and international fame at the Juventus club in Italy. Now that he's back, he wants to pick up where he and Camila left off - but does she feel the same?
I'll confess that at first, I had a hard time getting into this one. There are a lot of Spanish words and phrases sprinkled throughout Furia, and I constantly felt the need to go and look up anything I didn't understand. But after a while, I let this urge go (mostly) and my reading experience was so much better for it.
I learned so much from reading this book. Firstly, I had no idea how multicultural Argentina was - Camila herself is of mixed Palestinian, Spanish, and Eastern European heritage (much like the author herself), and other characters are of Chinese and Indian ethnicity - and there are probably others which I don't remember. And the sense of place you get - as well as the Spanish language intermixing that I already mentioned - is really well done.
I had heard that gender-based violence (and murder) is a huge problem across Latin America (as it is in many other parts of the world), and it is in depicting this issue (and the attitudes enabling it) that Saied Méndez really excels. From casual misogyny to systemic, from domestic violence to
Diego was a sweetheart, and the way Saied Méndez writes him, it is easy to see why Camila
Furia is a novel that wears its heart on the sleeve of a fútbol jersey - and that's a good thing.
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Lesbophobia
This book deals with heavy topics such as femicide and violence against women and in some scenes graphically. There is one strong scene of domestic violence wherekaitlinlovesbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Misogyny and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death, Pregnancy, Racism, and Infidelity
tinytrashqueen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Child death, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Child abuse, and Misogyny
whatcassiedid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, and Murder
sunshine8473773's review against another edition
4.25
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Grief, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Murder, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy
theoceanrose's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death
zombiezami's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Murder