User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
doesn't this cover give you all the We Are Okay feels?? AND it's an f/f romance too.
Rating: really liked it
This book is a great read! Raya is such a down to earth girl and it's so easy to follow her view. I feel sad for her how she craves to have her mom's love and attention but doesn't receive. Her feelings sound realistic and can be relatable to many readers because of where she lives and the constant fears she has living in a small town of strict church goers. I like her friendship with Sarah. Sarah seems like a great person as well. I like other supporting characters like Leon and Clio. I enjoy the humor in this book.
This book is told in the first person point of view following Raya, 16 who is raised by her grandma because her teen mom abandoned her when she was 2. Her mom is an actress on TV and plays the Aphrodite character so Raya learns about ancient myths to prepare herself that if one day her mom comes back for her, she'll have something to talk to her mom about. Raya misses her mom a lot. She lives in a small town and is constantly afraid that someone will find out that she actually likes girls instead of boys. When gay teens in this small town got found out, they disappeared. Raya worries a lot when it will happen to her and where will she disappear to. This book is divided into 6 parts.
Orpheus Girl is well written and a fast paced read! Church's involvement to cure homosexual is kind of funny and cruel. The people running the program talk down to them to make them feel less than a person while the activities such as doing strenuous exercises that they are put up to perform is just silly. Using the methods of torture such as electroshock to stop loving someone seems extreme. I am a bit disappointed with Raya's grandma. I realize she's a strict church goer but her own daughter got pregnant out of wedlock and she kept the baby instead of putting up for adoption or abortion so I would expect that she would give Raya a chance instead of sending her off. This book is LGBT in the old days where gays are unacceptable and cast out. I don't know much about Orpheus so I can't tell the retelling part. The story is still a good read despite some trigger warnings and I do recommend everyone to read this book!
Pro: fast paced, page turner, LGBT, friendship, family, humor, easy to read, diversity,
Con: trigger warnings of how gays are unacceptable back in the day and torture is used as a method to cure
I rate it 4.5 stars!
***Disclaimer: Many thanks to Soho Press for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.
xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for more details
Rating: really liked it
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ORPHEUS GIRL is a loose retelling of the Greek Orpheus myth. In it, a girl named Raya is sent to a conversion therapy camp after she is caught having sex with her girlfriend, Sarah, in a conservative Texas town. There, the two of them are reunited, but it's bittersweet. In addition to the rigid gender role exercises and constant confessions, a terrible threat looms over them all.
So this book was... kind of amazing, actually. I was a little leery when I saw that the author was a poet, because what works in poetry doesn't always translate well to fiction, but ORPHEUS GIRL was a really lyrical novel with exceptionally vivid and unique imagery and the author did such a great job of putting a scene into your head, whether it was good or bad. I was high-key impressed with how Greek myths were woven into the storyline. Raya's mom is a soap opera star on a Greek myth-themed fantasy show and she's learned the myths to get closer to her mom in spirit, basically, but also casts herself as the heroine in her own hero's journey as a way of coping with her terrible situation.
The book seems to be set in the 90s/early 2000s and does a great job of capturing a snapshot of what it was like to be a teenager in those times. I would know, because I was one. I loved the romance between Raya and Sarah, and how much they loved each other, and how that was juxtaposed against the more universal insecurities that plague adolescents worldwide. I love that there are more F/F books coming out, and honestly, this is one of the best ones I've read.
I do want to issue a caveat that this book deals with some incredibly tough topics. What makes it worse is that conversion therapy and homophobia are real, so this isn't even fantasy; people suffer like this in real life. Some of the trigger warnings are suicide, self-harm, electroshock therapy (which is represented as torture), misgendering a transgender person on purpose and forcing them to dress like the opposite gender and go by their "dead name," and lots of other homophobic stuff.
If you can stomach the content, it's so worth the read. What a beautiful, sad little book.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! 4 stars
Rating: really liked it
I think I've lost another part of me.
This is what The Miseducation of Cameron Post should have been. I'm not here to shit on serious topics, but that book was a joke. Here's my review if you want to know why I hate it so much.
But back to Orpheus Girl. Which is not even a horror or a thriller, but gave me nightmares. The last and probably only book that ever did that was some CSI: Miami when I was 16 and on a vacation and woke up in the middle of the night terrified and couldn't sleep till morning.
Now I'm 23. And this story crawled under my skin apparently. In my dream a cult captured and trained us to "save the world", but blackmailed us in order to make us stay. And when I finally woke up they were in the middle of amputating our legs in a not steril place, because ??
Also, even if I cry on a book, I'm usually silent. But in this case I said out loud "no, no, no" more than I could count. It was horrible. Devastating. A torture.
I consider these characters war survivors. And we don't even know how much not just emotional but physical harm their body suffered. How it will affect their lives. How many years it shortened their lives.
The fact we need books like this in 2021 is mindblowing. Like... I'm just dreaming, right?
Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars
Thanks to the publisher for an advanced review copy!This cover and the fact that this book is f/f gave me major Nina Lacour vibes, so I’m sad I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wish I would’ve. I’ll be first to admit that I’m not hugely well versed on Greek mythology, so I had to Google the myth of Orpheus and go from there. The character guide in the back was also really helpful to see how the story correlated to the myth. But other than having a cool plot structure and a strong bond between the two main characters, this book left a lot to be desired.
For starters, it’s barely even 175 pages for an entire book about coming out, going to conversion therapy camp, falling in love, and more. Even though the size of this book was a huge inspiration in my motivation to read it, this book did itself a major disservice by rushing through a lot of the plot. Furthermore, a lot of the elements were really convenient and cookie cutter, and I never felt shocked or touched by what was happening because it all occurred so quickly. It almost feels like this is a book someone wrote for Nanowrimo where they rushed through everything just to get a complete story in 50,000 words, but it reads like a first draft where the author still has to go back in and add a lot of detail and plot description.
Other than that, there’s not a lot to be said. Again, I liked the characters and the conflict and the setting of small town Texas (side note: I think this book is set in the 90s? It very much had that vibe and I loved it). The writing did have some lovely lines toward the beginning, but once this book picked up speed, it just progressed very mechanically with no character development and several elements thrown in as shock value without a lot of substance. I’m sure this book will be meaningful to some people, but it lacked enough spark to make me connect to it and I thought it was somewhat unrealistically and conveniently resolved, as much as I was cheering the girls on.
Rating: really liked it
I didn’t immediately want to write a review for this one because I can’t stand writing 3 star reviews but here we go! Let’s attempt this!
Things I liked:
-Mythological elements, specifically the Orpheus retelling element and how present it was in the story
-The characters
-The writing, it was beautiful and it was easy to get through
-The length. For the content, I’m glad this wasn’t longer because I don’t think I could have handled it.
Things I didn’t like:
-Char as a “villain” or whatever she was currently standing in for
-Violence against a trans person to motivate other queer characters
-Lack of a conclusion with a particular storyline with the main character’s mother
-No mention of types of queerness beyond gay and trans. No bi, pan, ace or otherwise queer characters, which makes it seem like lesbian, gay, and transgender are the only options.
I’m glad this book had trigger warnings at the beginning in multiple places but I would like to expand on those so no queer people go into this without warning. Full tw list: homophobia, homophobic slurs, transphobia, misgendering, dead naming, conversion “therapy”, vivid description of electroshock and other torture methods that conversion camps use, suicide, internalized homophobia, outing.
I wish I had more to say about this but I really don’t. This is a book designed to make people, especially queer people, cry and it just didn’t make me cry because I can always feel that manipulative writing and it just keeps me at a distance. I think there is some value here when it comes to depicting conversion therapy as torture, in refusing to look at it as anything but torture. I think sometimes narratives refuse to really tackle that head on and so in some ways this is a valuable story.
However, I don’t know who I could in good conscience recommend this to. The book was dedicated to queer teens, but I would never put this story in the hands of queer teens. It’s too horrifying, too scarring, especially for queer teens living in deeply homophobic situations. But I also feel like adults who are confident in their queerness have read conversion therapy narratives before and would have to be, like me, in a very strong frame of mind to read about the torture being done to queer teens. So, while I think there’s so much value in writing about the truth of the torture in these camps, the intended audience for this confuses me.
Like I said, I hate writing 3 star reviews because I go back and forth so often. I don’t know how to evenly describe the food and the bad so sometimes I doubt myself and the star rating I gave the book. Maybe, hopefully, my indecision and my middling feelings make sense. If this is a book you loved I would love to hear why, and if this is a book you can’t stand I would love to hear why as well. For now, these are my thoughts and I hope they make sense.
Rating: really liked it
In some ways, Orpheus Girl is old school YA. At 176 pages, it doesn’t waste time beating around the bush. It tells you exactly what’s up: Raya’s grandmother, her church, and most of her small Texas town are homophobic. Her mother abandoned her, and that sucks. Conversion therapy is evil. Think Judy Blume’s Forever, which stares issues of teen sexuality right in the face, names them, and addresses them directly. Rebele-Henry’s writing is clear, even beautiful at the sentence level, and at first, Orpheus Girl is a refreshing read.
Unfortunately, unlike Forever, things quickly get muddled. There are two major problems here: underdeveloped characters and plot contrivance. It doesn’t help that the premise is reminiscent of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a popular YA book about conversion therapy that recently spawned a Chloe Grace Moretz vehicle, while the cover art and parts of the plot call to mind Nina LaCour’s excellent We Are Okay. None of the characters in this book have consistent, coherent personalities. Raya loves Greek mythology, we’re told, but we never actually see her reading it, talking about it, thinking about it; she only ever brings it up for the sake of metaphor. And unlike with Cameron, who is a firecracker from the beginning of her story, it’s hard to understand why she decides to talk back to and rebel against authority at the conversion camp; doing so takes a fierceness that we just don’t see from her in the first part of the book. Like the protagonist of We Are Okay, she lives alone with a widowed grandparent, whom she both loves and struggles to love; however, while Marin’s grandfather is complex and tenderly drawn, Raya’s Grammy is cardboard. Similarly, Sarah, Raya’s girlfriend, has no defining personality traits. Most baffling of all is Char, who runs the camp’s “treatments” and immediately calls to mind Cameron Post’s Lydia (her coworker, Hyde, is very similar to Rick). She swings wildly between cruel torturer to tortured savior, depending on which is convenient for the story. A “cured” lesbian, she’s apparently been administering these horrific “treatments” to countless teens over several years, but she’s only just now, with Raya’s arrival (but completely uninfluenced by Raya herself), considering helping them escape. Honestly, Char’s random character changes are the only thing that move the plot forward past the first section of this book. Raya does nothing; Char is always the one who decides to either torture or save her and Sarah. This, combined with cringeworthy plot contrivances with no buildup or tension (car crash, anyone?), made me want to pull my hair out.
It’s not all bad. Orpheus Girl has some truly lovely writing, and it doesn’t shy away from the horrors of conversion therapy and early 2000′s homophobia. Its open ending, like Cameron Post’s, is much more satisfying than a neat, tied-up one would have been. And I don’t mean to imply that Rebele-Henry is intentionally ripping off either Emily Danforth or Nina LaCour. But this book just doesn’t live up to its promise as a modern retelling of Orpheus - beyond character names and Raya’s own insistence that she is “like Orpheus,” there is little to no resemblance to the myth - and it does beg comparison to other YA novels that are, at the end of the day, much better.
Rating: really liked it
I received a DRC of this book from edelweiss in exchange of an honest reviewCW: homophobia, conversion therapy, transphobia, deadnaming, car crash, electroshock therapy, violent homophobic hate speech, starving, suicide attempt, self-harmIf I have one book I regret reading this year, it’s this one. My story with it started when I heard it was an Orpheus and Eurydice retelling, so in me fashion without looking for more information, I requested it and was approved. Later on, I find out that it centers conversion therapy, and even with my hesitation, I thought that since I had the Arc, I might as well read it. Big mistake on my part. My reading experience was awful from start to finish and not because of the subject matter, because if it were done well, I would’ve liked this Orpheus Girl but alas.
Full review posted on my blog : Word Wonders
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars
Orpheus Girl is the story of Raya, a girl in love with her best friend Sarah, who is struggling to hide her sexual awakening in the Deep South. Raised by her grandmother, she must decide whether to succumb to peer pressure and live a life of lies or rescue her lover from hell - a conversion camp.
This is a loose Orpheus and Eurydice retelling, as Raya loves Greek mythology and compares a lot of her struggles to the Greek tragedies. Her mother, who she refers to as Aphrodite, abandoned her as a toddler and as a result she struggles with expressing and accepting love. Hiding who she really is results in a double life, and it's only through her time with Sarah that she begins to realise that what they share together is precious and should be cherished. Their relationship feels well developed, and is certainly the strongest aspect of the story.
I do think that the synopsis of this gives away too much of the story.
It's a short read, yet some of what is described in the blurb doesn't happen until over 100 pages in - meaning it looses its impact as I knew what was coming. Because of the short length I also found that a lot of the later plot is told in bits and pieces, without a lot of depth added to the secondary characters we meet. Large portions of the story are simply skipped over in favour of furthering the plot, when emotionally I could have benefitted from more insight.
I also found that I had to suspend my belief in the plot at times, as the logic doesn't really make sense. I highly doubt, for example, that (view spoiler)
[ they'd allow both girls to go to the same camp, let alone share a room together, given their history. (hide spoiler)]. This plot point was just sort of glossed over. I will say that I enjoyed the ending. It's hopeful without being too twee. Optimistic without wrapping everything up neatly, while bringing in the concept of found families. The writing itself is although rather lovely.
In conclusion, decent read and hints of mythology that I loved, but the logic didn't hold up at times.
Rating: really liked it
Many thanks to Soho Teen for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review Putting this down for now. Right now, I'm trying to stick to lighter books.
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This sounds like the perfect blend of heartbreaking, funny and, in the end, inspiring.
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Rating: really liked it
rep: lesbian mc & li, trans side character, gay side character
arc provided by the publisher. this is all metaphor & no substance. poets writing novels don't always succeed and unfortunately this is one of those times. we glide through the pages full of pretty words & we're told a lot of things about the characters and the plot, but there is absolutely nothing underneath it. there is no way to connect to anyone in this book, because none of them are actual people with personalities, just props needed to tell the story.
with that in mind, i don't think i could stomach reading about gay youth being tortured at a conversion camp. we all know how difficult a subject it is & it deserves more care than this book offers.
Rating: really liked it
You know, the thing about family is that you can choose it. And I choose you.
On my blog. Rep: lesbian mcs, trans side character, gay side character
CWs: homophobia (from family, slurs, telling them they're disgusting/going to hell), conversion therapy (aversion therapy with freezing water, later electroshock therapy), transphobia, suicide attempt
I put off writing this review so that I wasn’t some combination of fuming and heartbroken over this book when I wrote it. Only, every time I think about it, my heart starts aching, so obviously, getting over it isn’t going to happen any time soon. (Also, not fuming in a bad way, more like fuming because of what happens in the book, because it just makes you feel
so much.)
Orpheus Girl is a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, where hell (death) is conversion therapy, and they’re both lesbians. It’s narrated by Raya, a lesbian teen in a hugely conservative and religious town, who’s in love with her best friend. Then said best friend, Sarah, kisses her, and they start a relationship in secret, risking being found and sent to conversion therapy (which subsequently does happen).
I think the sign of a good book is that it gives you strong emotions (unless it’s you being pissed off at the book, true). And
Orpheus Girl did just that. I had to put it down at times because I was so angry at how Sarah and Raya were treated by the people who supposedly loved them and who they should have been able to trust. It’s one of those books that’ll leave you wanting to hit something, you’re so angry. But it also leaves you heartbroken (not because it’s a sad ending, don’t worry). Because it’s about the perpetuation of abuse in a way. Straight people abusing gay people into believing that they’re sinners/immoral/etc, and then the saddest bit, which is that the “cured” gay people go on to continue that abuse on another generation. (And now I want to hit something again.)
Anyway, I’m so glad there was a happy ending, because I don’t think I could have stood having my heart ripped to shreds like that and there not being one.
What I loved about this book was that it talked a lot about how you choose your family. And how you don’t have to forgive your blood family when they abuse you like this. Because a lot of books have found families, and the idea of choosing your family, but not so many that tell you you’re not at all obligated to forgive people who do such terrible things to you. It’s refreshing, to be honest.
Finally, this is a very character-driven book, so obviously the characters had to be sympathetic and compelling. Which, duh, they were. I loved Sarah and Raya and Leon and Clio, and I spent most of the book being really nervous about what was going to happen to them next.
In the end, the only issue I really had with this was that they didn’t burn the conversion therapy centre to the ground before they left.
Rating: really liked it
The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 Stars
Full review here
Trigger warnings: homophobia, starvation, conversion therapy, physical and psychological torture, misgendering, self-harm, suicide attempt. This book deals with some heavy themes and I'm not going to lie, it is not an easy read. This book tells the story of some young and queer people trying to escape from a place that is probably one of the closest things to hell this world has to offer: a conversion camp. To think that the things described in this book, such as conversion therapy where people are tortured, happen in real life is horrible and terrifying. But before arriving in this hell there's a lot of trauma that we see at the beginning of the book, such as the Raya and Sarah getting publicly outed and also their families sending them away because they think that the girls have some kind of problem for being who they truly are. This is the stuff nightmares are made of. After not being accepted from the people that are supposed to love them, these girls get sent away to essentially be tortured.
The strength that Raya, the main character and also the narrator of this book, shows even in the most dreadful of times is amazing. Even in the worst moments, when we feel like all hope is lost, she focuses on the only positive aspects: her girlfriend Sarah, who is there with her, and the other young people that are living this hell on earth alongside her. Such strength is only to be admired.
Even though this book is not an easy read, it's definitely an eye-opening one that will make you realize the horrors that unfortunately some people have to go through.
Rating: really liked it
DNF @ 20%I'm putting this down for 2 reasons:
1) I'll be honest, I can't do a painful queer book right now. I'm not saying they don't need to exist, because they absolutely
do. We need stories like this that tell people — especially cishet readers — how brutal the world's treatment of queer folks can be. But that doesn't mean that I, as a queer woman, am always going to be in the right mindset for reading it myself, and right now, I'm not in the right place for it. Things aren't bad yet, but I've been warned of specifics later in the book, and I know right now that the whole conversion therapy plot in general isn't jiving with my mental health, and there's nothing wrong with that!
2) I don't enjoy the narrative voice.
This is the only reason this is going on my DNF shelf instead of my "finish-me-soon" shelf. If I liked the writing in this more, I would wholeheartedly snatch this story back up the moment I felt up to the subject matter, but unfortunately, the narration is lackluster and the characters are one-dimensional.
This was one of my most anticipated fall 2019 releases, so I'm pretty bummed out to put this one down.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: really liked it
I received an arc from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review Content warnings: homophobia, lesbophobic slurs, homophobic slurs, conversion therapy, offscreen suicide attempt
This book is kind of the tragically beautiful you may expect from the summary and a book based on a Greek myth. It's a rare case of YA with an established relationship.
The writing in this was very atmospheric. It fit the book really well.
I also really loved the relationship. It was so soft and I wanted nothing but the best for these girls.
It's definitely a heavy book, and I definitely recommend if you can handle heavy subjects.
