BOOK REVIEW | Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra

Drug use and drug abuse, colorism, sexism, classism, racism, attempted suicide, overdose, child abuse, sexual harassment, substance addiction, alcoholism, rape

Latine, Queer (Pansexual), Plus Size, Neurodivergent, Asian (Chinese)

Alright. I’ve seen so many mixed reviews for this book, and I don’t normally read reviews before I write my own or read a book because I don’t want to think about them in my head as I read them. I think this is one of the first books – maybe, but I know it’s not the absolute first – that I enjoyed, but have seen other reviewers state very valid issues with it. So I need to preface this by saying while I may have enjoyed it, I know that there are issues with it and I believe that those issues need to be shared by those that are able to articulate it better than I. I can understand the issues that they have with it, and as I was reflecting back on my experience, I completely agree, I feel privileged that I was able to still enjoy the story for what it was. I don’t know if this is okay honestly, but I’ll share my thoughts regardless. Please feel free to let me know what you think.

As much as I felt like some things were lacking character-wise, I did enjoy the characters of Beatriz, Hero, and Meg. I actually wish that Meg had more of a presence, and honestly, I feel like she deserved way better than what she had. Ben wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t as sold on him as I could have been. Was I really a fan of these three because they weren’t white? Possibly. But as some other reviews mention, their ethnicities didn’t really seem important to the story, which is a shame because I was looking forward to that. I thought it was going to mean so much more than it did, and I think there was maybe one instance that was brought up that *maybe* had to deal with it was when Beatriz was reflecting on how her white grandma really treated her like shit compared to Hero, but that was more dealing with colorism since Hero is white passing.

*sigh* I feel like the more I reflect on what happened, my rating is way off from how I’m now feeling. Oh well. Let’s keep going.

I would say the setting was okay. I liked the story a lot more when they were not at Harvard, which is weird but there was a lot more going on there. Plus Meg was not at Harvard and I liked her. Ugh I wish she had so much more going on for her but I gotta get over that. I feel like she could have been a much better secondary character and I wish more of her story was told to us.

I liked Gamarra’s writing, and I really really hope that she comes out with another book. I feel like with the mixed reviews for this book, there may be a delay in future books coming out but I really hope she doesn’t stop writing stories. While I was not familiar with the Shakespeare retelling element – honestly I’m just not much of a Shakespeare person and don’t really notice when something is a retelling unless someone tells me – so it didn’t really matter on that aspect. But I hope to read more books from Gamarra in the future. I really do.

Hmm… I mean it was really about Ben and Beatriz learning about each other after having a really good/bad first sexual experience three years before the book starts. I know I was irritated with trying to figure out what the heck happened that made Beatriz hate Ben after and when it was finally revealed I was like DAMN SON. I’m like whoa. I would hate Ben too lol.

Honestly I don’t really know what else to say about the plot. Sorry I feel like this review is spiraling, I’m so sorry.

I feel like some parts of the book were intriguing. I did want to keep reading when I wasn’t. It was also one of the last books I read last year so I was also trying to make sure that I did finish it before the year was out. I was actually really rooting for Beatriz to have something that would be considered a happy and healthy relationship with Ben, and even though I wasn’t always on Team Ben – I really think it’s just because I usually like the female main character more than the male one, sorry! – I was rooting for Beatriz and Ben to have that relationship that they should have. It’s weird though, and I can totally understand why it’s hard to have a fulfilling and safe relationship when the person you want to be partners with comes from a family that goes against everything you are. But if that person who you want to be partners with understands that even though they come from it, they don’t have to stick with it forever or believe in it blindly, then maybe it’s worth trying out the relationship. So I guess that was what I was wanting to see, whether Ben would disown his family and their values hardcore and stand his ground, no matter what that meant for him. I know it’s hard though, especially when your family is the one that is supposed to support you no matter what, and especially if they are financially supporting you… well it’s hard to break from that if you don’t have anything to stand on yet.

I… I feel like the logic was sound? Well, not everything was sound. I didn’t like the whole… what the hell was his name? Claudio? Yeah I hate him so much. What a fucktard. Oops, did I swear? I don’t care. He made no sense to me, but then again, he was a total fuck boy and I guess he made complete sense as a fuck boy. Hmm… so maybe it wasn’t all sound but I guess it made sense for the kind of characters they were.

And that’s the rub. I did enjoy what I read and for the most part it was good for me. But I know that the representation wasn’t good enough, and I don’t like when books are diverse for diverse sake. I’m not saying that Gamarra did this on purpose, and I highly doubt that she would have purposely done injustice to the characters in her book, but it was unfortunate that it didn’t hit the mark. I hope that Gamarra reads some of the constructive feedback to do better in future books, because I definitely enjoyed what she gave us.