Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda , Sarah Booker (Translator)

July 17, 2023

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda , Sarah Booker (Translator) | Book Review

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda

Sarah Booker (Translator)

☠ ☠ ☠

Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of a deserted cabin, held hostage by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise?

When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from the Delta Bilingual Academy convene after school, Annelise leads them in thrilling but increasingly dangerous rituals to a rhinestoned, Dior-scented, drag-queen god of her own invention. Even more perilous is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare in which violence meets love. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara, who is obsessed with imitating her dead mother, struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Each day she edges nearer to a total break from reality.

What a raw and emotional horror tale of coming of age. The POVs in this story are wild, jumping from carefree girls to a struggling woman that hasn't come to terms with her past or traumas, to those two meshing in such a horrible twisted way. I really wanted to feel for these girls in a bonded way but found myself detached from them. I couldn't gather the age range and found some parts harder to follow (maybe given from the translation) than others. It took a good amount of time to determine what age of girls I was reading about. It definitely shows the low maturity and in my opinion, shows how the lack of information a young one gets from a strict, faith-based home life and school can be so damaging to their personal growth. That could also go for Miss Clara as well. How much trauma and abuse can someone go through until they snap?

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Adult, Contemporary, Queer, LGBT

First Published: March 12, 2018

“A panic attack is like drowning in the air', he tried to describe to her once and, perhaps because it seemed incomprehensible, it was the best description of his illness that he had managed to do so far.

A panic attack is like being burned in water, falling upwards, freezing in fire, walking against yourself with solid flesh and liquid bones, he thought."