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Erica's Reviews > Kiss Number 8
Kiss Number 8
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Erica's review
bookshelves: adorable, cataloged_it, graphic-novel, ya, bffs, daddies-and-daughters, growing-up, love-and-romance, meh, mothers-and-their-kids, real-life-fiction, sex-n-gender, women-and-girls
Jun 06, 2019
bookshelves: adorable, cataloged_it, graphic-novel, ya, bffs, daddies-and-daughters, growing-up, love-and-romance, meh, mothers-and-their-kids, real-life-fiction, sex-n-gender, women-and-girls
2 stars for the story, additional star for the artwork.
You may have seen other reviews saying the cover art does not match the interior story. This is true.
You may have seen other reviews saying there are a lot of plotlines in this book and none of them are really given full service, especially the tale of a transman, and the end result is chaotic. Also true.
You may have seen other reviews saying this takes place in 2004 which makes no sense for a book that's supposed to be aimed at contemporary youth, some of whom wouldn't even have been alive in 2004. So very true.
I'd like to add that I have not been able to confirm this is an #ownvoices story which leads me to question why it was written. Ok, I know why it was written; the author and illustrator include an interview they did with each other in the back of the book and the author mentions she was inspired to write this story - in 2004 - when her sister came out. But this isn't a story of allyship, this is the story of a teenager questioning gender roles and her sexuality. I suppose this could be aimed at kids who have friends who are LGBTQA+ but for the kids exploring their own sex and gender ideals, this may be more painful than useful.
In this case, I think it's the art that carries the story. There is so much emotion in the characters' body languages, so much being told via illustration that's not told in text. In some cases, the two oppose one another - a character is telling a story in text while the actual story is playing out in pictures.
While I liked the idea behind this, I don't feel it was executed well nor do I strongly believe it was told by the person(s) who should be telling this story. Other reviews suggest better stories of LGBTQA+ youth and those may be worth looking into if this one seems like it's not going to please you as a reader.
You may have seen other reviews saying the cover art does not match the interior story. This is true.
You may have seen other reviews saying there are a lot of plotlines in this book and none of them are really given full service, especially the tale of a transman, and the end result is chaotic. Also true.
You may have seen other reviews saying this takes place in 2004 which makes no sense for a book that's supposed to be aimed at contemporary youth, some of whom wouldn't even have been alive in 2004. So very true.
I'd like to add that I have not been able to confirm this is an #ownvoices story which leads me to question why it was written. Ok, I know why it was written; the author and illustrator include an interview they did with each other in the back of the book and the author mentions she was inspired to write this story - in 2004 - when her sister came out. But this isn't a story of allyship, this is the story of a teenager questioning gender roles and her sexuality. I suppose this could be aimed at kids who have friends who are LGBTQA+ but for the kids exploring their own sex and gender ideals, this may be more painful than useful.
In this case, I think it's the art that carries the story. There is so much emotion in the characters' body languages, so much being told via illustration that's not told in text. In some cases, the two oppose one another - a character is telling a story in text while the actual story is playing out in pictures.
While I liked the idea behind this, I don't feel it was executed well nor do I strongly believe it was told by the person(s) who should be telling this story. Other reviews suggest better stories of LGBTQA+ youth and those may be worth looking into if this one seems like it's not going to please you as a reader.
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Reading Progress
June 4, 2019
–
Started Reading
June 4, 2019
– Shelved
June 5, 2019
–
Finished Reading
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Mir
(new)
Jun 18, 2019 09:00AM
I was confused that it later turned out the MC was (view spoiler)[bisexual, as her complete non-enjoyment of any earlier boy-kisses seemed to suggest that she was a lesbian. (hide spoiler)] Although I guess lots of boys are just bad kissers.
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Miriam wrote: "I was confused that it later turned out the MC was [spoilers removed] Although I guess lots of boys are just bad kissers."Yeah. That was weird, especially since it seemed she was going through the motions of kissing boys without being all that attracted to them, not like she was to whatsherface.
It made me feel like the author was trying to cover all the "in" topics rather than sticking with ones that came naturally to the story.
I wonder if my copy had an updated interview in it, because there was a section where the author mentioned that she is attracted to men and some women. Then later went on to talk about how she felt it was important to talk about people who came out as gay, but later realized they were bi, since at the time they were getting a lot of flack online. (Which I do recall...)
Matthew wrote: " people who came out as gay, but later realized they were bi, since at the time they were getting a lot of flack online."Bi people still get a lot of flack, sadly.
Although this still seems, to me, like a weird way to approach that issue, if that was her intent.
Matthew wrote: "I wonder if my copy had an updated interview in it, because there was a section where the author mentioned that she is attracted to men and some women. Then later went on to talk about how she felt it was important to talk about people who came out as gay, but later realized they were bi, since at the time they were getting a lot of flack online. (Which I do recall)"I definitely don't remember reading about any of that in the interview I read but I also have a terrible memory because I am so old and could have read that and forgotten it, though it seems I wouldn't have been so "Not own voices!"' had I known that.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the interview had been updated to address the very complaints other readers, as well as myself, have made on the topic.
