Barbara Dee
Autore di Maybe He Just Likes You
Sull'Autore
Opere di Barbara Dee
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Sesso
- female
- Agente
- Jill Grinberg
Utenti
Recensioni
Warning: there is reference to a gay character; however, this plays a very minor role in the whole story. Sexual harassment is discussed in the book so parents should be aware of the subject and be prepared to discuss with their children. The author does a great job giving examples throughout the story without sexual descriptions or graphic content.
Liste
Premi e riconoscimenti
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Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 16
- Utenti
- 1,117
- Popolarità
- #22,994
- Voto
- 4.1
- Recensioni
- 62
- ISBN
- 75
- Lingue
- 1
Trigger warnings: Physical assault, child abuse and implied injury, sexual harassment, bullying, sexism
Score: Seven out of ten.
For a book targeted at a younger audience this was surprisingly heavy. I can't believe this one isn't YA. Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee circled my recommendations until I saw it on a library shelf and picked it up. I headed in with high expectations, and when I closed the final page, it was enjoyable, yet flawed.
It starts with Mila recounting her life at school when she notices something, the boys, like Callum, sometimes hug her without consent and for a strangely long time, a few seconds too long. Mila doesn't know what this feeling is yet for the first opening pages, but what she does know is this isn't flirting. This is something else, despite her peers calling her reactions immature and over-the-top. Mila drives the central storyline with her character development of realising what sexual harassment is. Why didn't she tell anyone about this? I presume she didn't have the words yet. Or another reason.
I'm glad Dee put in effort by also making her see words are better than actions, which made me like her, despite her flaws. The pacing is enough to keep the plot going, with a length below 300 pages, but I sometimes feel a lot is going on. Mila has a lot of character dynamics with her friends, like Mila and Naomi and people she prefers not to interact, like Callum, and Dee dedicated lots of subplots to them, like the one about her mother attending an exercise program, but it detracts from the narrative.
The writing style is okay, except for one choice: if Mila (and therefore Dee) can say Asian, like in the term Asian American, why can't she say Black or Latina? Like others, Maybe He Just Likes You solely focuses on characters' experiences based on gender, but there's no intersectionality, which felt like a missed opportunity given the cast is diverse. The concluding pages are engaging though, as I get to see the satisfying end of Mila's arc.