500 Words or Less

500 Words or Less by Juleah del Rosario
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Non-white main character (Nic is Chinese and white) + prose in verse = a yes from me. And the themes in the story (the culture of college admissions, how society views women) were interesting to hear about from the lens of a high school student who is talented yet feels like an outsider. I'll let these lines speak for the book:

"I am telling stories
that we are too afraid to tell,
because to tell them
is to relive them,
and sometimes it hurts

too much."

----

"We make mistakes
that sleepwalk
with us,

and guilt is a kind of sadness
that can sleep
for months,

until we awake
and roll over in bed
with guilt

there
to change us."

----

"Death will just happen.
But so will life.
Life will just happen."


Extras: More Novels in Verse, Some Poetry, or View All My Reviews