Not a bad start, but definitely a quirky book.It's only a mystery in the desperate eyes of the publisher's marketing department who were trying to find a category that would make the book sell. In reality, it's a travelogue about a young woman who goes from country to country and underworld to underworld in search of stolen money. You learn a lot about the places she visits, and the nature of corruption in each of these places, but there really isn't a mystery to be had here. We know who did it pretty much from the start, and most of the clues and answers are literally handed to the main character by the people she meets in each place. She actually does very little but jog around in designer clothes and drink coffee in her panties. (And if I took a shot every time I read the words "panties" or "coffee", I'd be so drunk by the first third I'd never be able to finish the book.)That said, if you want a really detailed and well researched travelogue with a crime/heist type plot and a reasonably likable main character, this is a pretty enjoyable book. This was described to me as a book about a Chinese lesbian Havergalian who basically fights crime. I go to Havergal, and it sounded awesome so I picked it up.I mostly enjoyed it. The Chinese friend who recommended the book to me said that the author was on-point with everything he said about Chinese culture. However. It was extremely off-putting to know that the book, about a gay Chinese female Havergal graduate, was written by a straight white male with, as far as I could tell, no connection to Havergal. I don't feel that the way he portrayed Havergal was accurate. For example, "I'm quite sated." "You speak like a Havergal graduate." I am pretty sure that half my school doesn't even know what "sated" means, and I think that I am the only one who would ever even consider talking like that. And "We Havergal girls have to stick together." What does that even mean? That Havergal graduates are close? That's not true. That they're somehow disadvantaged, so they have to stick together because they are stronger as a group? Havergal graduates are not disadvantaged in any way. I guess Havergal wasn't the focus of the book, but why would you even put that in there if you didn't know anything about the school...?It also made me really uncomfortable that the author kept writing about the ideal weights of women, and he kept mentioning panties. And I am not totally convinced that this book wasn't sponsored by Starbucks, with all the references to Starbucks VIA. But aside from that, the book was good.
What do You think about El Abrazo De La Tigresa (2011)?
bored. happy ending but only about how she will got the money.
—Martine
Ava Lee is my new favorite super hero!
—marrrrrrrrrr
