The Miseducation of Cameron Post in The Sapphic Squad

Jul 07, 2019 Emily (emilykatereads) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq, read-in-2019, owned, favorites, contempory, young-adult, sapphic

Y'know when you finish a book, and know it's going to be one that you forever remember?

This is one of those books.

I slowly fell in love with this long-winded novel. And I'm definitely left here thinking about Cameron Post. And I will be thinking about her long-after. It's a long book, but I spaced out reading it over 2 months while giving time to other books as well. I think this worked in my favour here, because as I slowly read through this, I really got to appreciate Cameron and let the story Y'know when you finish a book, and know it's going to be one that you forever remember?

This is one of those books.

I slowly fell in love with this long-winded novel. And I'm definitely left here thinking about Cameron Post. And I will be thinking about her long-after. It's a long book, but I spaced out reading it over 2 months while giving time to other books as well. I think this worked in my favour here, because as I slowly read through this, I really got to appreciate Cameron and let the story fully sink in before continuing. This is a book I wish I read years earlier. Honestly, I'd been meaning to read it for years now, but I was wary to go into a story featuring conversion therapy at its core because I was tired of the only queer stories I had read being ones where it's an obstacle. I wanted happy queer stories.

Well, years later and now I've come back to this. It's a hard read. It's terrifying, and realistic, and shows the horrifying reality of what many queer youth went through. As a young lesbian in Canada, I can't relate to this extreme struggle, but that's not to say my path was completely obstacle free. I saw, and still see the awful mindset of many characters within this book reflected today. It's not as common, but there's still people who view queer people this way. Like it's something sinful and that it needs to be cured.

The writing in this is incredibly and impactful. You can't help but vividly imagine the setting. The writing also perfectly captures the characters, and we really get to know them through the detailed narrative. We really get to know Cameron and the inner-workings of her mind.

One thing I felt conflicted about, and see others call out in their reviews is that the narrative doesn't outright challenge how problematic the homophobia within this novel is. But that's where I'd beg to differ. This book really shows us how problematic this is, rather than just telling us. The book doesn't have to tell us because we can see it. We see how the characters are impacted negatively and how they lose themselves. It's not that they believed they're cured, rather, they "forget themselves" at this camp while trying to appease the people who think they're curing them.

I'd definitely recommend this for an impactful book about the struggle queer youth face(d). It's important to see what obstacles people fought, and are still fighting today. I'd definitely be wary if you're sensitive to reading about extreme homophobia, and there's also talk and detail about a graphic suicide attempt.

Overall, this is an important book, and I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Review can also be found on my blog! ...more

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Apr 28, 2014 Sarah Goodwin rated it it was amazing

Cannot fault it.

Flawless and poetic writing with just enough crunch to keep it interesting. Drew me in from page one, and kept me interested right up until the end. Great characters, very realistic prose.

Only complaint is for the kindle version - was very cheap, but all the extra pictures - like the iceburg work sheet and the brochures, letters, etc, were too small to read properly. Like someone had just scanned a page from the paper copy of the book without checking to see if it was the right ...more

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Oct 11, 2018 Joellyn rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbtq

I didn’t intend to finish this book today but the second half moves quickly and hard to put down. I found the first half slow, though it was worth it.

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Jul 15, 2018 Caitlin rated it it was amazing

Amazing - review will be up later today once I've gotten some sleep! ...more

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Feb 06, 2018 Cynthia rated it really liked it

Shelves: teenlgbtq

A disturbing but well written book. To say I enjoyed it would be a lie. I grew up in a religion that recommended Conversion therapy not too long ago and it is mortifying how many places it is still legal

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