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A review by thisboricuareader
I Vote You, Mr. Mayor by Isabella Renee
0.5
If you are the author of this book, friend of the author or overall fan of the author, I'd like to let you know what in this review I am not attacking the author, I'm only criticizing the artistic choice the author made in this book when it comes to Puerto Rican representation.
First of all, I'll start by saying that before reading this book I had added this book to my TBR because the cover is stunning. I had gone to the authors profile and saw the Puerto Rican next to title of the book, so I assumed there might've been some Puerto Rican representation in this book. I don't usually want to assume people's ethnicity, so I thought maybe she's Latine. Post release, I checked reviews to see if anyone mentioned Puerto Rico and only 1 review mentioned Puerto Rico.
Obviously my curiosity was peaked, so I dmed the author to see if she's Puerto Rican and their reply was that One of the main characters in her book is Puerto Rican, but nothing else. Said author blocked me now on IG.
Secondly, Puerto Rico is mention in this book 16 times. The word Puerto Rican is only used 3 times, and Latine/Latinx/Latino/Boricua are never used. You could've made him American and this book would've been exactly the same. Like I said, I'm not critiquing the author, it the choice of making of making a queer character Puerto Rican in New York and never EVER mention Puerto Ricans in New York. The cultural diaspora in New York, it's a choice and I really dislike it. Don't read this as a Diversity book.
Adding to this that "slums outside of San Juan" like its such a gross way to put it, and me going of the description of where the grandma's house is I assume she lives in Cataño. Adding to this that Puerto Rico rarely has private beaches because the beaches belong to the people, so there is no private gate that gives you access to the beach. Trust me, because we keep fighting Gringos that come here and want to own beaches.
Third, this book used a lot of homophobic/queerphobic language to prove a point that Luke's parents are the worst kind of humans especially in Politics. In the beginning Luke has a very bad reaction to Will letting him know he identifies as non-binary. I can understand the message the author wanted to come across in this book, it just felt like a miss for me. The language in this sometimes was just horrible and it should've had a trigger warning in the beginning, not adding at the end "Please stay safe, XX here are number for people that can help you if you're in a bad situation like Luke".
Fourth point I would like to make, is that I thought it was kind of gross and it made me uncomfortable the use to Hillary Clinton's daughter in this book as "Blonde girl Duncan was making out with, or making other characters that, I assume, are related to the Kennedy's or Nixon family. I get your inspiration was RWRB, but this was just a miss for me.
Fifth, the writing in this was just weird overall. It's Luke's POV in third person and sometimes we get the thoughts and feelings of other people. It was confusing at time and I just assumed we had switched POVs and we had not. The book was confusing and just overall awful.
Six, and last point because I have to work, I had messaged the author because she used Lewis Capaldi when it comes to a Doctor who thing, and Lewis Capaldi is a singer... not the actor.
Lastly, I was open to having an honest conversation with the author before she blocked me. I wasn't gonna do a full hate, I wanted to possibly help them with the book. I don't expect everyone to write perfect Puerto Rican Representation to my standard. I guess the communication will never be open.
I might add to this later on when I get back from work.
First of all, I'll start by saying that before reading this book I had added this book to my TBR because the cover is stunning. I had gone to the authors profile and saw the Puerto Rican next to title of the book, so I assumed there might've been some Puerto Rican representation in this book. I don't usually want to assume people's ethnicity, so I thought maybe she's Latine. Post release, I checked reviews to see if anyone mentioned Puerto Rico and only 1 review mentioned Puerto Rico.
Obviously my curiosity was peaked, so I dmed the author to see if she's Puerto Rican and their reply was that One of the main characters in her book is Puerto Rican, but nothing else. Said author blocked me now on IG.
Secondly, Puerto Rico is mention in this book 16 times. The word Puerto Rican is only used 3 times, and Latine/Latinx/Latino/Boricua are never used. You could've made him American and this book would've been exactly the same. Like I said, I'm not critiquing the author, it the choice of making of making a queer character Puerto Rican in New York and never EVER mention Puerto Ricans in New York. The cultural diaspora in New York, it's a choice and I really dislike it. Don't read this as a Diversity book.
Adding to this that "slums outside of San Juan" like its such a gross way to put it, and me going of the description of where the grandma's house is I assume she lives in Cataño. Adding to this that Puerto Rico rarely has private beaches because the beaches belong to the people, so there is no private gate that gives you access to the beach. Trust me, because we keep fighting Gringos that come here and want to own beaches.
Third, this book used a lot of homophobic/queerphobic language to prove a point that Luke's parents are the worst kind of humans especially in Politics. In the beginning Luke has a very bad reaction to Will letting him know he identifies as non-binary. I can understand the message the author wanted to come across in this book, it just felt like a miss for me. The language in this sometimes was just horrible and it should've had a trigger warning in the beginning, not adding at the end "Please stay safe, XX here are number for people that can help you if you're in a bad situation like Luke".
Fourth point I would like to make, is that I thought it was kind of gross and it made me uncomfortable the use to Hillary Clinton's daughter in this book as "Blonde girl Duncan was making out with, or making other characters that, I assume, are related to the Kennedy's or Nixon family. I get your inspiration was RWRB, but this was just a miss for me.
Fifth, the writing in this was just weird overall. It's Luke's POV in third person and sometimes we get the thoughts and feelings of other people. It was confusing at time and I just assumed we had switched POVs and we had not. The book was confusing and just overall awful.
Six, and last point because I have to work, I had messaged the author because she used Lewis Capaldi when it comes to a Doctor who thing, and Lewis Capaldi is a singer... not the actor.
Lastly, I was open to having an honest conversation with the author before she blocked me. I wasn't gonna do a full hate, I wanted to possibly help them with the book. I don't expect everyone to write perfect Puerto Rican Representation to my standard. I guess the communication will never be open.
I might add to this later on when I get back from work.