Juliet Takes a Breath

You know that feeling you get when something makes your insides glow? When you feel empty and cleansed and complete with the universe all at once? Like you could walk out the front door and the world will answer your call of joy and manifest everything that you need? It may sound trite, but as soon as I started reading this book that's what I got - and boy did I need it. 2019 was a challenging year on so many levels and I felt like I was struggling to even feel connected to anything, but towards the end of the year some of my hope started to come back. I'll confess that 2020 hasn't magically fixed things (the universe doesn't quite work that way), but reading this book brought me so much joy that I hope I can take that feeling and keep show more manifesting it into positivity throughout. Rivera had me hooked from the outset with her spunky protagonist Juliet Palantes, an aspiring writer, budding feminist, and just out of the closet lesbian. Juliet is young and adventurous, so even though she is terrified on being rejected by her family she comes out before travelling across the country to Oregon to work a summer internship with hotshot feminist writer Harlowe Brisbane. The story starts out like it's going to be just a fun summer of Juliet being immersed in West Coast lesbian culture, but Rivera explores so many deeper themes without sacrificing story that I couldn't help but be deeply impressed. I'm no expert on the LGBTQ2 , POC, or even the feminist culture, but I think that the biggest takeaway from the book (which does anything but preach, even while it clearly teaches) is that we have to keep questioning and that we hvae to keep learning. We might not always have the continuing personal drive to start asking the qiestions, but I definitely came out of this book feeling like I was ready to start again. Start asking, start doing, and most of all start being again. I sincerely hope that Rivera continues writing, because damn girl the world needs more of you! show less

“Feminism. I’m new to it. The word still sounds weird and wrong. Too white, too structured, too foreign: something I can’t claim. I wish there was another word for it. Maybe I need to make one up.”

Gabby Rivera’s debut YA novel JULIET TAKES A BREATH may have been published five years ago, but its story still feels just as fresh and important as it did in 2016. A coming-of-age novel following 19-year-old Juliet Palante as she discovers what it means to be unapologetically herself, JULIET TAKES A BREATH tackles themes of identity, community, and intersectionality and challenges the often harmful narratives embedded in white feminism.

Juliet is a Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx who lands a summer internship in Portland, Oregon show more with Harlowe Brisbane — the white, queer author of the feminist manifesto “Raging Flower.” After coming out to her family crashes and burns, Juliet boards the plane to Portland convinced that a summer with her literary hero will change her world for the better.

And so Juliet finds herself living in Harlowe’s attic, researching names scribbled on scraps of paper for her next book, and trying to navigate queer communities unlike anything she’s ever experienced before. As if this weren’t already a totally different vibe than the one she’d imagined, her mother won’t accept that her sexuality isn’t “just a phase,” her girlfriend won’t return any of her phone calls, and she can’t stop thinking about the cute librarian and her motorcycle.

I absolutely fell in love with Juliet and appreciated watching her learn and grow into herself over the course of Rivera’s novel. JULIET TAKES A BREATH is an important read and truly a breath of fresh air. show less

Bronx native Juliet Palante lands her dream internship in Portland, Oregon, the summer after her freshman year of college.

In 2003, the 9/11 attacks are a recent memory, mixtapes are in full effect, and Juliet comes out as a lesbian to her Puerto Rican family the night before she leaves town. Bearing the pain of her mother’s disapproval, Juliet bravely moves forward (pa’lante!) in hopes of self-transformation with Harlow Brisbane, author of Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind—Juliet’s beloved “magical labia manifesto.” Curious and open, Juliet plops into Harlow’s white hippie world of polyamorous lesbians and feminism while she questions her purpose as a brown-skinned, curvy, asthmatic, Puerto Rican show more lesbian. When a Raging Flower reading blows up, Juliet flees, seeking refuge with her badass revolutionary cousin and her queer chosen family, further expanding her understanding of personal freedom. Diverse primary and secondary characters reflect believable communities in Portland and Miami, although the portrayal of Filipino tertiary character Phen lacks cultural texture. Rivera (America, Vol. 2: Fast and Fuertona, 2018, etc.) offers up a passionate tribute to the power of one’s voice through Juliet’s savvy and tender narration. Crucial and intense explorations of sexual orientation, gender identity, and race ring true. A white and Korean librarian love interest and a masturbation scene add sweet sensuality to Juliet’s self-discovery.

A whirlwind coming-of-age story that leaves one breathless. (Fiction. 14-adult)

-Kirkus Review show less

AHHHH SO GOOD.
ahem. i mean. this is lovely writing and compassionate, thoughtful characterization, and lots of open (!!!) talk on race and "background" and feminism and queer shit, and what it feels to be figuring all that out, and how it feels to fuck up, and how it feels to run away. I maybe dog-eared more pages than not, but here's some of it --
"If you're aching for radical queer love with her, prima, go and get it," I said. "Do it now so I can watch and remember it for you later when you try and tell the story and don't do it any justice."
Oof.
and
"I want to know you forever, Lainie, and this is how we get there."
Like. Goddamn, okay.
I'm buying a stack of copies to hand out to all the little queer punk kids in my world.

This book feels like it belongs in the next level of a Women and Gender Studies course. I've read many books that I feel fit into the "Baby's First Feminism" category, and this one of the few novels I feel fit into "Baby's Deeper Dive into Feminism." I don't mean that in a way to gatekeep or anything, but reading this book with a bit of additional knowledge was fairly helpful to me. For example, the book never explains the term "Womanist," but due to my experience with Women and Gender Studies, I knew what it meant. This book is necessary reading for sure, but maybe the second book on the reading schedule instead of the first.

I greatly enjoyed the writing style, especially how Rivera did small bits of foreshadowing, like with Juilet's show more God story. Juliet's voice is so clear and strong throughout the narrative. And the chapter titles are fantastic. My personal favorite is "Ain't No Party Like An Octavia Butler Writer's Workshop." I desperately want to read Juliet's story from the workshop. show less

Juliet has just scored a summer internship across the country with the author of the most inspirational book she has ever read. It means leaving behind her family in the Bronx, as well as her girlfriend Lainie. In Portland, Juliet is warmly embraced by her idol Harlowe Brisbane and Harlowe's circle, and she feels like she has truly found her people.

This book was raw, honest, amusing and quite different from what I was expecting. I enjoyed trying to nail down the setting with clues given - with references to Lycos and a Discman I knew it was at least a decade into the past - until a single enormous reference revealed the precise year. Juliet's experiences with her (fallen?) idol are a reminder that even well-meaning folks still take show more missteps, and that there will always be opportunities to learn, acknowledge mistakes and do better. show less

Juliet Takes A Breath is about a “new baby dyke” Juliet going from the Bronx, New York to Portland, Oregon to intern for her favorite author, Harlowe Brisbane. During this summer Juliet finds more out about feminism, women’s bodies, the gay community, and how she defines herself as a Puerto Rican lesbian.
I’m so thankful for the representation Juliet Takes A Breath has. It absolutely opened my eyes a lot wider about the struggles Women of Color still have in the LGBTQ community as well as things that I may very well be unintentionally doing. White people who consider themselves allies can still hurt and offend even if it’s not intentional. The biggest thing is to own up to it, apologize, and learn from it. Juliet struggles show more throughout the book as to how exactly to call out someone she cares about for saying problematic things.
The history of amazing women you learn through Juliet’s research is fascinating and like Juliet, I was shocked that I had never heard of them before.
The novel is beautifully written and talks about topics of racism, identity, awareness, and community. Gabby Rivera’s writing style is so personal that it allows you to be in Juliet’s shoes as Rivera writes the “partially auto-biographical’ time in life where everyone is trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
I strongly feel this is an important, diverse, coming of age novel about diverse characters from a diverse author that needs to be read by all. show less