Reviews

Watch Us Rise by Ellen Hagan, Renée Watson

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ihateprozac's review against another edition

4.0

I am so here for teen girls taking down the patriarchy and calling out the everyday misogyny and racism in their schools! I highlighted so many passages in this book and my lordt I wish I had it growing up!

I am especially here for books that allow room to make mistakes on your feminist journey. Being an intersectional feminist doesn’t happen overnight, and setting this at a social justice-focused school allows the authors to examine how limiting and damaging white feminism and performative feminism can be.

This was a great read overall, but I admittedly felt that Jasmine’s chapters were far stronger than Chelsea’s due to how she articulates fat girl struggles. She calls out microaggressions against fat people that your friends don’t even realise they’re committing, down to your friends forcing you shopping at clothing stores without realising you can’t fit anything, or not ordering the right size shirts for your ~*good cause*~.

I liked that Chelsea was flawed and realised she needs to listen more, but her white feminism was lowkey irritating at times. She often came across as a White Saviour and took up all the oxygen in the room, instead of using her platform to elevate other voices in the discussion. The story touched on white/performative feminism, but it needed some finessing around how Chelsea listens to and elevates POC and fat people.

I also wished there’d been a bit more discourse around queer people, disabled people, trans women, and non-binary people. There’s a fleeting mention from another character, but it’s mostly glossed over. (Gimme a sequel please!)

4 stars. I remain a Renee Watson stan!

sgraceak's review against another edition

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4.0

Whilst Watch Us Rise is one of many feminist YA contemporary novels, Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan distinguish their novel from the crowd by interweaving poetry and visual art into the narrative. Bold and unapologetic, Watch Us Rise highlights the many micro-aggressions that women (and especially women of colour) suffer on a daily basis. The dual POVs of both Jasmine and Chelsea, black and white respectively, allow for Watson and Hagan to explore the different experiences of teenage girls with sexism and thus showcase the importance of intersectional feminism.

Akin to Kelly Yang's [b:Parachutes|52696571|Parachutes|Kelly Yang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572600369l/52696571._SX50_SY75_.jpg|71244656], another 5 star read, Watch Us Rise utilises its young adult audience to focus upon sexism within schools.

librarydancer's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 stars

Excellent story focusing on two teens who discover how to use their voices after getting frustrated with events at their high school.

alisha_'s review against another edition

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3.0

i really love feminist books - and i feel like this one has great lessons and teaches a lot about inspirational women - but it wasn’t executed great.

chelsea was a really annoying character - the book would’ve been much better without her point of view. she had good intentions, but she was just a privileged white feminist who came across about whiny at some points.

i was into the romance at first, but the more i read the worse it got. at the end of the book, it didn’t feel complete? it was almost like it was just forgotten about.

overall, this book was ok. it had great lessons and was inspiring, but the writing was very simplistic and the characters were average. i don’t recommend this book as there are better feminist books out there, like moxie and the nowhere girls, which i highly recommend.

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