Lisa Allen-Agostini

Big trigger warnings for domestic violence, rape, child abuse, an *explicit* child sexual abuse scene, incest. All of which are intense and there are constant scenes throughout the book.

I think it's hard to put my thoughts together about this. It's a cavalcade of trauma and abuse and then it just ends so... neatly? Like, not that the scars are resolved obviously. But it feels weird - although even saying that feels wrong, as if I'm suggesting that actually the trauma should have carried on, which is also not what I meant.

I think part of it is that the neat ending owes very little to the actions of the main character in the "present day" - there's connections formed in childhood that only just come back around all at once and we only see bits and pieces of how they happened and a loose friendship where the other person seemingly took it upon herself to get the MC's abusive violent boyfriend shot in a way that framed him as the shooter? it's a little vague at the end exactly what happened and how much knowledge people had but it's heavily implied imo. That's not bad exactly - everyone needs support and it's good to show stuff happening as a group effort, obviously. It more just adds to the sense that things wrapped up due purely to coincidence than anything else. Which... again I guess that's not that inaccurate to real life. So again I can't exactly mark it down for that.

I think the explicit child sexual abuse scene really threw me for a loop and eclipsed everything else about the book. Not suggesting it's wrong to portray it, just it was so intense (even though I had to skim it) that I couldn't really get settled about how I feel about the book due to feeling so upset and lost reading that.

I will say as an obvious unalloyed good thing: the Trinidadian Creole writing style is really good and I loved reading it. It's an incredibly readable book that's quite compelling… (més)

Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini is an excellent book about a girl from Trinidad who learns to deal with her mental illness.

This contemporary read will give your heart a squeeze and leave you wanting for more. I fell in love with these characters and only wanted to hear more about them. Lisa did such a magical job of showing us inside the head of a teenage girl and giving us insights into Trinidad's culture. I felt such a great connection with the struggles of mental health and not feeling like you fit in. Also - LGBTQ representation!

Such a wonderful and easy read that is a must read on my list!

Four out of five stars!… (més)