Zana’s Reviews > Anger Is Only a Shadow > Status Update

You can always count on Elizabeth Acevedo to write a banger

‘“If what you see, or the voices you hear, make you turn away from us, trap you so we can’t reach you, then those are not our ancestors talking; those are not the gods of a people that existed as limbs of the same body, that would turn us into”—I look for the right words—“amputated parts.”’

Shit that's poetic

‘“...You can’t rush or pressure a boy into deciding what kind of man he will become.”

Papi’s words hang between us like punching bags I want to knock down. Does he think it was easier for Ma to adjust to the big changes back then? Does he think becoming a woman is somehow easier than becoming a man? Does he think that what Aldwin is going through is so simply explained as “becoming a man”?’

This is so frustrating