Title: Furia.
Author: Yamile Saied Méndez.
Format: E-ARC (Thanks to the publisher for providing the ARC!)
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers.
Page count: 368.
Release day: September 15th 2020.
Genre: YA, Contemporary.
Rating: 4 stars.
What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)
An #ownvoices contemporary YA set in Argentina, about a rising soccer star who must put everything on the line—even her blooming love story—to follow her dreams.
In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan lives a double life.
At home, she is a careful daughter, living within her mother’s narrow expectations, in her rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father.
On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, Camila gets the chance to see just how far those talents can take her. In her wildest dreams, she’d get an athletic scholarship to a North American university.
But the path ahead isn’t easy. Her parents don’t know about her passion. They wouldn’t allow a girl to play fútbol—and she needs their permission to go any farther. And the boy she once loved is back in town. Since he left, Diego has become an international star, playing in Italy for the renowned team Juventus. Camila doesn’t have time to be distracted by her feelings for him. Things aren’t the same as when he left: she has her own passions and ambitions now, and La Furia cannot be denied. As her life becomes more complicated, Camila is forced to face her secrets and make her way in a world with no place for the dreams and ambition of a girl like her.
Rating:
Characters: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Logic: 8/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Average: 7.71 (which means 4 stars!)
My thoughts:
I enjoyed reading this book so much!
Furia/Camila was such an interesting character! She is trying to do what she wants, while also trying to living up to the expectations from her family/surroundings. I loved seeing her standing up for herself, and finding out how to fit all the different parts of her life together!
There were also two side characters, Diego and Roxanne, of who I also really enjoyed their development! They both had a certain standpoint, but throughout the story they started to see things from another side, and changed their viewpoint. Which was really good to see.
I really liked that this book is set in Argentina, since I’m not very familiar (or not at all) with how live is there. I really feel like this book showed a small piece of how life is in Argentina for a ‘normal’ girl. And basically how hard it is to do what you want as a girl, since it is often the opposite of what your parents want for you. And it also showed a bit of how unsafe life is in Argentina, especially for a girl! It made me appreciate growing up where I did!
The main focus of this plot is Furia’s football career and her love life. The football part made me a bit hesitant at first since I’m not that into sports focussed books. Although football was a big part of the book it more focussed on team spirit, and fighting for what you want and using football to do this. So there were no in depth football scenes, were you had to understand the rules etc!
I also thought the love story in this book was very cute!
Another part of the book was about her and her family standing up against her dad, which of course was quite a difficult topic to read about, but it was very well done in my opinion!
I really enjoyed Yamile Saied Méndez’ writing, and I definitely want to check out more of her works! I really recommend this book!
About the author:
Yamile (sha-MEE-lay) Saied Méndez is a fútbol-obsessed Argentine American who loves meteor showers, summer, astrology, and pizza. She lives in Utah with her Puerto Rican husband and their five kids, two adorable dogs, and one majestic cat. An inaugural Walter Dean Myers Grant recipient, she’s a graduate of Voices of Our Nations (VONA) and the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Méndez is also part of Las Musas, the first collective of women and nonbinary Latinx middle grade and young adult authors. Furia is her first novel for young adult readers.
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