Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez is about a girl in her senior year of high school in Rosario, Argentina. Her mom is meek and self-conscious and tries to convince Camila, her daughter, to be the same way. Camila’s father is an ex-professional soccer player who mentally and physically abuses his family. Her older brother Pablo plays for the local pro soccer team, where he is a star player. Camila has dreamed of going to America to play on a women’s national soccer team, but she can’t tell her family she plays soccer, which complicates her future. She is on a local competition team named Eva Maria. Their roster is a patchwork of teen moms, privileged kids, and others playing in secret like Camila. Along with soccer, Camila works at a small church that helps kids in need. The person that helped her get this job is Diego. Diego, or el Titan on the soccer field, is a local legend in the sport of soccer. He was also Camila’s boyfriend before he went pro. When he comes back to Rosario she is full of conflicted feelings that end up changing her life forever. I liked that Furia is a very realistic story. The book isn’t super romantic or based on her relationship with Diego. It does have some romantic parts, but it’s not the basis of the entire story. Not putting romance or head-over-heels love as the main plot makes the idea of female empowerment even more evident. Camila has to make many difficult choices in love and other parts of her life, and the author made it very hard for me to predict what will happen next. Though soccer is the main idea, there is more depth than just the sport itself. One major part of the story is the disappearances and attacks on girls and women in Rosario. There are also beliefs about how respectable women and girls should act and their role in the world. Camila, like many other girls, was forced to stop playing soccer when she was about 12. This age is when girls should become “women” and take up their role as women in society. These gender norms restricting women from playing sports are very suppressive and show how women are treated in Camila’s culture. Soccer is the main idea because it represents how Camila and other “futboleras” break free of society’s expectations by doing what they love. Her family also incorporates many parts of Rosario’s cultural issues. Her father is overbearing and abusive, her mother is passive and only shows her son love, and Camila is ignored and under-appreciated. Furia made me realize how lucky I am to have all the support and opportunities here in America. Learning about the oppression and violence that goes on in different places made me think about how I can do my part to stop these trends of society. Reading about how far Camila is willing to go to reach her goals really inspired me to work through obstacles I’ll face when pursuing my dreams. Camila’s story made me realize how hard it is for some women and girls to reach their goals, and the fact it’s just because society restricts them is really upsetting. After reading Furia, I feel like I have a better understanding of how lucky I am for all the opportunities I have, and I’m also more cognizant of the struggles women face to succeed in this world. - Ana S.
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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