Ophelia After All

Every once in a while you want to read a book that reflects who you are, your insecurities, and how it impacts the way you approach the world. For queer young adults, that representation has been few and far between, and mostly restricted to heartbroken white lesbian and gay teens. While these past stories were also important, I feel "Ophelia After All" shows where YA queer fiction is and should be headed, to telling the experiences of diverse protagonists that also reside outside the lesbian and gay label.

I loved reading the interactions between Ophelia and her friends, and more importantly, I loved the way that the story was not so much about the romance, but about Ophelia's bond with said friends and reluctance to fear of growing show more apart while transitioning to adulthood. I know the author is younger, and I feel that gave her an advantage since the dialogue did not seem forced or contrived the way some YA authors tend to be. It felt more authentic, and allowed me to have fun with and connect with the characters as well.

I also appreciated the additional representation in the book outside of Ophelia. As someone who identifies as ace and rarely sees characters that match my orientation, seeing a character that shared my background made me feel a bit more seen, something I feel that a lot of other younger characters can resonate with. Overall, I love "Ophelia After All" for what it signals, a transition point to more varied stories and opportunities for greater self-reflection among queer teens. show less

Ophelia After All is not a romance novel. It is a beautiful, thoughtful coming of age story. Ophelia is a Cuban/Irish American girl discovering her queerness and herself in the final months of high school. Ophelia has always had crushes on boys and starts to question everything about herself and how people see her, when she becomes attracted to a girl.
Ophelia has a great diverse group of friends. There were characters who were Black, Asian, mixed race, bisexual, biromantic, asexual, pansexual, aromantic and plus size. I liked how this book portrayed queerness as fluid and that it's difficult to put people and human sexuality into little boxes.
Olivia and her friends were well-developed, messy, relatable characters. It's important that show more teens see this kind of representation and that the path to discovering yourself is not always easy or perfect.
I love the gorgeous cover that reflects Ophelia's love of botany. #BookishFirst show less

Ophelia is a high school senior, and while the contemporary high school setting isn't my favorite, it's necessary for this story. The last year before college/adult life is a big turning point, and it's especially true for Ophelia--she's about to graduate, she thinks she knows herself and what she likes, but she's thrown a curve-ball. With graduation means prom, and despite daydreaming about the perfect male date for years, she can't stop thinking about Talia, a female acquaintance-turned-friend. This book isn't a romance; it's about Ophelia finding herself, and her relationship with her friends. I loved this book's lovely descriptiveness of food, the unapologetic use of Spanglish throughout, and Ophelia's love for roses and gardening. show more The direction the story took was unexpected, but it was good. It's a wonderful queer coming of age story!

There's one thing I didn't really care for, and it's a couple of scenes where Ophelia is being taught, like, queerness 101, including what different flags represent. Maybe it's just me, but it felt a little forced. Other than that, I adored this book! Definitely a new fav contemporary YA. show less

This is a stunning, STUNNING debut! I expected this to actually lean more on the side of romance, but it is so much more than that! It is true YA novel: a coming of age story focusing on a character on the path to discovering who she is versus who people expect her to be. Readers will absolutely fall in love with Ophelia, quirks and all, as she finds herself throughout this story! I specifically loved her journey because Ophelia not only tackles who she is in relation to romantic relationships, but also who she is in her friendships and in her family. This element really elevated the story for me because it showcased that while Ophelia's self-discovery is especially relevant to future romantic relationships (obviously), it is most show more important to her as an individual. She is who she is regardless of who she's with or likes. The emphasis the author gave to this fact absolutely made the book for me since its surprisingly lacking in other coming-of-age contemporaries I've read within the past few years. Overall, this is an affirming, heart-warming story that everyone is sure to enjoy! show less

Ophelia is of Cuban and Irish descent and loves roses, and she's always crushing on boys and longing for romance and Love™. In this book Ophelia struggles with her crush on a girl, ignoring or excusing away her past attraction to girls, and resenting the childish and heteronormative image her loved ones have of her, fearing they'll no longer love her if/when she breaks out of that box. Honestly so real.
Ophelia has a big diverse group of friends, whom I mostly all liked at varying levels. Each friend had a different dynamic with Ophelia; she develops closer friendships with Talia (Afro-Puerto Rican) and Wesley (Korean American). I especially liked the latina amiga bonding between Talia and Ophelia. There's a love triangle within the show more friend group that is very dramatic, and it's annoying for the friends outside of it. There's also drama about who's asking who to prom. Ophelia was too prone to avoidance when it came to her problems, which was relatable and understandable, but obviously made things worse and was annoying to read ("just talk to each other!!!").
I liked Ophelia as a character and liked the story despite finding some parts of it challenging. I would recommend it to anyone who identifies with any part of the story. I wish I'd had this book in high school.

Read the full review, plus trigger warnings, at https://fileundermichellaneous.blogspot.com/2023/07/book-review-ophelia-after-al... show less

OPHELIA AFTER ALL delivers a unique and memorable YA and Adult gay coming out.

The early gradual pace allows the finely tuned distinct personalities of friends and parents to evolve, with major diversity from Irish to Islam, via Lation/a.

Readers may agree that the book could be subtitled "OPHELIA FINALLY" since it takes a really long, long time for OPHELIA to decide that simple honesty to BOTH parents would have made both her life and her Mother's career go incredibly more happy.

It was challenging to read how all of her friends dealt with their own angst while moving forward with art, college, prom queen, fashion and more...and Ophelia just basks in unforgiving angst.

The plot moves smoothly into many unexpected directions while weaving show more in both gardening and Shakespeare's HAMLET to connect with the main character. There's also great Rose advice to add banana peels to soil while naming Roses for friends.

Lotsa Vegetarian eating was also a welcome surprise. show less

"How do you say what you can't explain?...Things may be changing, but this change feels like too much. What happens when you tell the girls who trust and love you that you realized that you sometimes looked at them the way they expect boys do?"-Ophelia After All

Ophelia After All is a beautiful story about a girl who is finding herself in the midst of her senior year of high school. It takes place in the final months of high school, when colleges have been chosen and The Prom is on everyone's minds. Who will be going with who? Ophelia especially wants answers to this question.

Everyone in her life know her for two things, her penchant for gardening and being "boy crazy". But as Ophelia navigates through the last months of her senior year, show more she has to figure out who she really is, especially as new relationships and friendships bloom like the roses she is so fond of tending to.

The writing in this story really captivated me as we really got a glimpse into Ophelia's brain as she went through the turmoil and struggle of figuring our her identity and desires, her denial, confusion, and fear of rejection, and overall coming to terms with who she is as a person. show less