This book comes with trigger warnings that strangely enough, in the advance review copy I read, are at the end. Hopefully, in the final version, they’re at the beginning. The story deals with rape culture and sexual harassment, among other issues.
The Luis Ortega Survival Club opens on sixteen-year-old Ariana leaving a party where she had sex for the first time, hated it, and made an enemy of the nicest girl ever after she told her to stay away from Luis, which obviously Ariana didn’t.
This is not an easy story to read and it feels as if the author (who recently won a Lambda Literary Award for The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School) put all their focus and energy into writing about the painful topics they tackle with sensitivity. They nailed that part, which makes this book easy to recommend, even though in the process, the characters didn’t get as deep and layered as they could have been. With the exception of Ariana, who is a great character. She’s probably autistic but hasn’t been officially diagnosed because of her parents’ wariness towards big pharma and, by extension, doctors. Her selective mutism is depicted very well, as is the ambivalence of feelings that come from having someone act as if they cared and then take advantage of you.
Luis is the only one who’s ever really talked to Ariana at school. He’s always been nice to her, until he assumed she wanted to have sex with him, which she kinda did, maybe. She was in sensory overload from the party so who knows. Ariana is so used to not understanding the world and why people act the way they do that it takes her a long time to realize what has happened to her that night doesn’t only feel wrong, it is wrong.
I wish the other characters involved in the revenge plot – Shawni, Jasmine, Nina, Angel – were as well-written. They each have a different voice, and they all seem interesting beyond their shared hatred of Luis, and that’s what’s missing from the book. I’d have gladly exchanged more time with them against almost everything having to do with Ariana’s parents.
Besides Ariana’s character, what I enjoyed most is the coming together of the group, the strength in numbers, and the friendship. 3.5⭐️
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Jude in the Stars 