Happy boxing day! I am currently sitting with my feet up at my boyfriends parents house in Cumbia, listening to the rainfall outside and watching Jurrasic Park while thinking about what to stuff my face with next. This is how Boxing Day should be right?
It’s been a while since have posted a Sassy Book Club review, in fact the eagle-eyed amongst you might have even noticed that there was no November Reads post last month either. That is because November’s chosen Sassy Books read was a bit of a beast, I started it at the end of October and only finished it this week! It was the only book I read for the whole of November. Luckily the organisers were having a similar issue and they didn’t get it finished either. In fact I don’t think they even chose a December Sassy Books as everyone was so busy catching up, so I don’t feel like a total failure. This month’s book was The Miseducation of Cameron Post, here’s the official blurb:
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship — one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to ‘fix’ her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self — even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.
But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship — one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to ‘fix’ her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self — even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.
I have mixed feelings about this book, at is a slow burner all the way through and he descriptions can seem a bit OTT at times, and yet I don’t think I’d change it. It is definitely part of the writing style and it fits it well, but if just concentrated on the actual storyline, the book would be half as long easily. It’s a nice, slow read and I didn’t find the subject as shocking I expected to. The relationships all seemed realistic and the character journeys all seemed very real.
This book is set for the most part in the 90s, and it reads almost like it has an Instagram filter over it. It’s in the past but only just, a world we can relate to, but also look back and see what’s change. This method of reflection is a great tool used by the reader to see how far we’ve come. Have we changed enough in our attitudes towards LGBT life? Video tapes and films in general are also an important theme, creating an important coping mechanism for many of Camerons feelings and desires.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but it is a slow burner. It’s one to take your time over, certainly not a book to be rushed. I think it’s a book that could do with a re-read, however I won’t be rushing t return to it.
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