Reviewed by alindstadtcorbeax on
This was excellent. Oh my freakin’ God!
ACTUAL BI REP GUYS!!! & an *own voices* DIVERSE hidden GEM of a YA contemporary novel about a Chinese American girl whose family is poor (it discusses class & privilege, as well as including disability representation) & moves from San Francisco to New York to go to a prep school on a scholarship in theatre. Because she is a tenor 1, she keeps failing to get parts that she auditions for, & becomes extremely distraught, defeated, & exasperated, until she finds out that the all male a cappella group, the Sharpshooters, has an available spot.
She takes a HUGE gamble & decides to audition, disguising herself by cutting off her hair (wearing a wig & lots of makeup to still appear as a girl during her classes) cross dressing as a guy to audition for the school’s exclusively male a cappella group. She nails her audition, & thus is initiated into the group. Let me make it clear that it is much discussed that that the MC is not meaning to pretend she is anything other than cis, and the author addresses the MCs actions with sensitivity, discussing the topic extensively.
This novel is very much about finding yourself & identity... as well as a place to belong. It is not too heavy on the a cappella so no worries about that... it is 90% or more about the characters; a very character driven novel.
She contemplates gender identity quite in detail early on & realizes she is for sure female, & that she is only cross dressing because she so badly wants to be in this group; she has never felt like she has had friends like these, a place to belong, a family- which when it is assumed that she is a gay boy(more on this in a moment), feels morally awful about it & faces consequences when a new friend confides in her with his secrets.
As I mentioned above, there is much discussion in the MCs inner dialogue about this, and the writing shows absolutely no insensitivity towards the subject, the always writing with complete honesty, and not claiming the MC is right in what she is letting the boys assume, it is quite the opposite, & makes it clear that the MC is cis & acting as something that she is not, and that it is not acceptable... but not in a harsh way, just right.
Sexual identity is a very big part of the novel, as the main character contemplates if she is Bisexual or not for quite a long time... and she realizes that she most definitely is (and guys there is such great, ACCURATE Questioning & Bi rep! I was so happy to actually see Bisexually being acknowledged & represented, because I feel that there is a very limited number of books that actually, realistically, accurately depict Bisexuality.
This novel was really such a great find, I recommend it 100%.
It is truly was a great find about finding a place you finally belong and about figuring out who you are, & your place in the world.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 4 April, 2020: Finished reading
- 4 April, 2020: Reviewed