Feb 2022 BotM - Can't Take That Away

[Kaje]

Our winner for the Feb-March 2022 book of the month is Can't Take That Away by Steven Salvatore

A debut novel about a genderqueer teen who finds the courage to stand up and speak out for equality when they are discriminated against by their high school administration.

Carey Parker dreams of being a diva, and bringing the house down with song. But despite their talent, emotional scars from an incident with a homophobic classmate and their grandmother's spiraling dementia make it harder and harder for Carey to find their voice.

Then Carey meets Cris, a singer/guitarist who makes Carey feel seen for the first time in their life. With the rush of a promising new romantic relationship, Carey finds the confidence to audition for the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the school musical, setting off a chain reaction of prejudice by Carey's tormentor and others in the school. It's up to Carey, Cris, and their friends to defend their rights--and they refuse to be silenced.

Told in alternating chapters with identifying pronouns, debut author Steven Salvatore's Can't Take That Away is both a romance, and an affirmation of self-identity.

content warnings : (view spoiler)[instances of homophobia, bullying, and misgendering; use of homophobic slurs; exploration of gender dysphoria; mentions of suicidal ideation; allusions to depression and anxiety; exploration of familial death and grief; descriptions of degenerative illness (Alzheimer's); homophobic attacks and hate crimes; physical assault; graphic description of injury (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to seeing what our members think of this one. If you want to comment on something that may be a story spoiler, you can hide it by putting <*spoiler> (without the *) ahead of it, and <*/spoiler> (without the *) after it - eg. (view spoiler)[hide the info. (hide spoiler)]

[Kaje]

I really enjoyed this one. The nonbinary rep seemed good, I cared about the characters, the conflict was one that many teens face, and it wasn't too good/evil starkly divided. The writing was engaging and kept me interested.

Although I ended up taking away one star for an author choice at the end (view spoiler)[ where there's a kind of deus ex machina and the main antagonist is removed from the equation by a totally spurious issue. Instead of a final showdown, the teens win by default. That really took the wind out of the conflict, and I was disappointed. A good editor should have pushed back hard on that choice. (hide spoiler)]