Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Dogs of Summer

This book was okay I guess, I’m not too sure really on how to review it in all honesty. It certainly started well and you get the sense from page one Abreu is not going to hold back. Whilst it’s a little (well lotta) unpleasant to start a book with a girl making herself throw up, I did actually love the rawness and no-self-control aspect of these characters, preparing myself for a no-shits-given read. The book is all from the POV of an unnamed ten year old girl given the nickname ‘shit’ by her friend Isora and their poverty-ridden life in the hills of Tenerife. The first three quarters of the book just follows these two as they go about, not really doing much and it’s for sure more of a character-driven novel. I did like this to start and Abreu does give us a good character study and represents the harsh life of those living in Tenerife with a big divide between the locals and tourists well. But… it does get a bit much after some time with repetitive scenarios of gross bodily functions with the reading experience becoming quite uncomfortable and sickening to be frank. She presents female sexuality, puberty and growing up in an raw light which I appreciate but it does get too crass. I don’t mind crass books and can forgive them sometimes but the more it went on I didn’t get any sense of a true message or crux to it so maybe she was just adding these in for the sake of it? The book leads up to a climatic event and onwards I really began to dislike it more so, I don’t think the topics were presented all that well and it’s just quite an irritating read.

Like I said, this is quite a difficult book to review because I think the translation is really what let it down. I’ve read lots of reviews (well more so the comments on these) and it’s apparent those who read the original Spanish rated it higher and it was received better there. This is a book that is meant to be representing poor Spanish women in the Canary Islands so when I, a working class cis-presenting man who’s lived my whole life in London, reads this I can’t grapple the culture and life to the best of my ability. That’s not to say I can’t rationalise and see things from other’s perspective but maybe some books just aren’t meant to be translated and possibly this is the case for Dogs of Summer which is a shame. The nuance of Abreu’s craft in regards to the story and character studies was likely lost in the translation process. However, there still are some Spanish-speaking reviews that rated it low.

Content Warnings

brinnavirginia's review against another edition

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emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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eralbesu's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.75

Follows the friendship of two feral girls. It’s disgusting and intimate in a way that made me want to stop reading. Many times. Can’t say I’d recommend it.

Content Warnings

hanhantap's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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lidia7's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

bites_of_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

En este libro tan único seguimos la historia de dos niñas de 10 años en una etapa de sus vidas en que empiezan a descubrir la importancia de su amistad. La narradora es una de las niñas y por su punto de vista vemos que ella tiene emociones muy fuertes por su amiga, en algunos momentos la ama, en otros la envidia, y en otros la odia. Son esas emociones que están al rojo vivo cuando se empieza a pasar por la pubertad.

Sí, este libro está escrito de una manera muy coloquial, hay momentos en los que se me hizo difícil el poder entender ciertas cosas, pero no era algo que fuera tan fuera de lugar como para que no quisiera seguir leyendo. Las niñas en realidad me cautivaron desde el principio y quería saber que pasaría en sus vidas.

Es un libro triste, muy triste, pero al mismo tiempo tiene una ternura muy profunda.

Hay que leerlo con cuidado ya que hay descripciones explicitas de trastornos alimentarios, abuso sexual, y crueldad animal.

Content Warnings

aic96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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