Author: Liz Reinhardt
“It’s not like I never thought about being mixed race. I guess it was just that, in Brooklyn, everyone was competing to be exotic or surprising. By comparison, I was boring, seriously. Really boring.”
Culture shock knocks city girl Agnes “Nes” Murphy-Pujols off-kilter when she’s transplanted mid–senior year from Brooklyn to a small Southern town after her mother’s relationship with a coworker self-destructs. On top of the move, Nes is nursing a broken heart and severe homesickness, so her plan is simple: keep her head down, graduate and get out. Too bad that flies out the window on day one, when she opens her smart mouth and pits herself against the school’s reigning belle and the principal.
Her rebellious streak attracts the attention of local golden boy Doyle Rahn, who teaches Nes the ropes at Ebenezer. As her friendship with Doyle sizzles into something more, Nes discovers the town she’s learning to like has an insidious undercurrent of racism. The color of her skin was never something she thought about in Brooklyn, but after a frightening traffic stop on an isolated road, Nes starts to see signs everywhere—including at her own high school where, she learns, they hold proms. Two of them. One black, one white.
Nes and Doyle band together with a ragtag team of classmates to plan an alternate prom. But when a lit cross is left burning in Nes’s yard, the alterna-prommers realize that bucking tradition comes at a price. Maybe, though, that makes taking a stand more important than anything.
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So when I first heard about Rebels Like Us ,I was intrigued. by the cover,the synopis,everything really. However I was left slightly disappointed, it took too long to get to the issues in this book.I would've liked if it would've dealt with racism more like I thought it would, and earlier in the book.
Nes as a main character had heart and made me want to know more about her story. However some things bothered me about her characterization... the quote included in the synopsis seemed really blasé in regards to being biracial. You can definitely tell that Rebels Like Us was not written by a person of color. I wish I could've seen more of her embracing her divorced family roots and the culture from both sides. Nes talks about being biracial but never talks about wahat that mean in regards to her identity as a whole. The love story plot was very inst-love and pretty over the top.Cute and sweet but honestly very superficial.
The cover screams summer and I think the cover was a great choice. I finished reading Rebels Like Us and couldn't decide if I liked it as a whole.Did I Enjoy it...yes slightly.Did I feel like the story fell flat in regards to the synopsis...yes a bit.Would I recommend Rebels Like Us to a friend..probs not.Overall Rebels like us was a solid easy read that I can see why some might like it but me personally It was a bit underwhelming. 2/5
Nes as a main character had heart and made me want to know more about her story. However some things bothered me about her characterization... the quote included in the synopsis seemed really blasé in regards to being biracial. You can definitely tell that Rebels Like Us was not written by a person of color. I wish I could've seen more of her embracing her divorced family roots and the culture from both sides. Nes talks about being biracial but never talks about wahat that mean in regards to her identity as a whole. The love story plot was very inst-love and pretty over the top.Cute and sweet but honestly very superficial.
The cover screams summer and I think the cover was a great choice. I finished reading Rebels Like Us and couldn't decide if I liked it as a whole.Did I Enjoy it...yes slightly.Did I feel like the story fell flat in regards to the synopsis...yes a bit.Would I recommend Rebels Like Us to a friend..probs not.Overall Rebels like us was a solid easy read that I can see why some might like it but me personally It was a bit underwhelming. 2/5
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