Talk about diversity! You’re Welcome, Universe pretty much has a corner on that market; from Julia, the deaf, Indian-American protagonist to her two moms, I loved how colorful this cast of characters was. It’s a book that really makes you think about deaf culture, and I felt like I was really immersed in this culture that I don’t know that much about. Since I’m not deaf, I can’t tell you how accurate the portrayal was, but it felt very real to me, and I loved how descriptive Whitney Gardner was.
For me, I think the biggest problem of this book lies in the fact that even though I thought she was an interesting character, Julia never fully connected with me. I didn’t really even like her very much. She has some major anger issues, which didn’t make a ton of sense to me since she seems to have a pretty great life (her moms are super supportive of her, she’s super talented, and she can make friends she just chooses not to for the most part). She had this whole “my life is so awful because I got in trouble for doing something illegal” chip on her shoulder, and I never really felt like I was rooting for her.
But maybe I’m just missing something here – graffiti isn’t really my thing either, and while I enjoyed learning more about street art and why it’s important, I don’t think I was fully engrossed on that spectrum either. So if you like graffiti and want to read about a diverse protagonist, this book might be for you.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars