Name: Jordan's review of The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara
Item: The Unbinding of Mary Reade
Rating: 2.5
Author: Jordan

Miriam McNamara

A clever, romantic novel based on the true story of a girl who disguised herself as a boy to sail with the infamous pirates Anne Bonny and Calico Jack—and fell in love with Anne Bonny. There’s no place for a girl in Mary’s world. Not in the home of her mum, desperately drunk and poor. Not in the household of her wealthy granny, where no girl can be named an heir. And certainly not in the arms of Nat, her childhood love who never knew her for who she was. As a sailor aboard a Caribbean merchant ship, Mary’s livelihood—and her safety—depends on her ability to disguise her gender. At least, that’s what she thinks is true. But then pirates attack the ship, and in the midst of the gang of cutthroats, Mary spots something she never could have imagined: a girl pirate. The sight of a girl standing unafraid upon the deck, gun and sword in hand, changes everything. In a split-second decision, Mary turns her gun on her own captain, earning herself the chance to join the account and become a pirate alongside Calico Jack and Anne Bonny. For the first time, Mary has a shot at freedom. But imagining living as her true self is easier, it seems, than actually doing it. And when Mary finds herself falling for the captain’s mistress, she risks everything—her childhood love, her place among the crew, and even her life. Breathlessly romantic and brilliantly subversive, The Unbinding of Mary Reade is sure to sweep readers off their feet and make their hearts soar.

The Unbinding of Mary Reade

Milo Jean

The language and gender identity were intriguing and fun but the relationship aspect felt like going from one bad situation to another and making Jack Rackham an antagonist instead of one of their partners like in real life…felt like polyamorous erasure.

Jordan

Sarah Sammis

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara is historical fiction inspired by a woman who disguised herself as a man to be a pirate and sailed with Anne Bonny and Calico Jack — and then fell in love with Anne.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Toni Turner

I want more books like this. 
I want more pirates. I want more ships. I want more ocean.
But most importantly I want more exploration of gender and sexuality!!
 
I will not say this book is without flaw, but I will say I think McNamara went about the harder topics of homophobia and sexism in a way that would be true to the time (the 1700's), AS WELL AS gave our main character so much strength that the message of that prejudice being okay would ever come home with the reader. 

The element of self discovery and self exploration was probably my favorite part of the book. Our main character has my entire heart and being with her as she is learning about her mind and her body and how they coexist was really interesting. I will critique that she came into herself quite suddenly, but I personally like having that aspect of a story that has been building with momentum and then all the sudden there is this moment where fireworks go off and doves fly and everything is climactic and almost theatrical in a way. I like how Captain Kirk survives off dumb luck. I like it when I love a character so much I follow them blindly. Even when they are impulsive or dramatic I want to be with them during the crescendo of words painting their journey and making me CRY!!

I will admit I am sick of having to watch and read about women clawing at any scrap of power and I wish that it was more common in fiction to write about worlds of equality, but the way I see it is that I read for two reasons: 1. to learn and 2. to see myself, my friends, and the strangers I see walking beside me in my real life on the pages. 
I can step back and realize this is historical fiction about two women who lived this life and I can feel hopeful for their ending. But more importantly I can feel happiness in knowing that someone who is struggling with their gender/sexual identity is going to come across this book, and see so much of themselves in the story. 
I like to believe that more stories like this will lead to more stories with more diversity and more unquestionably equal societies instead of the ones we live in today or our ancestors have endured in the past. 

I loved this book for a lot of reasons. It tugged at my heart, it made me cry, it made me fist pump in moments of victory,and by GODDESS I fell in love with Mary. Absolutely fell in love. I could have read this in one sitting if It wasn't so terrible to my emotions and I was put off about crying in front of my new roommate. 

I will state this is heavily a romance, fueled by characters who are realistic, and also a dream, and sometimes a nightmare. I loved the way it was written. I (yes I) felt beautiful, like I was bobbing in the ocean, sitting on a mast, entangled with the ropes around me, smelling the sea, and hearing sounds I haven't heard in years. But I am a sucker for ship settings. I love the language and the life. I always wish for more of it, but the story captured me so much and the description had me there in my mind so vividly that I was content. 

I just want anyone to be talking about this story. i could dissect it and discuss it for days. There are so many scenes and so many quotes that I will have with me now forever. 

I want books like this, and I want more books better than it, because reading about Mary was an experience I will never forget and I want MORE!!

Alexis 

I received this as an arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest reviews. 

I didn’t care for this all that much. I couldn’t connect to the characters at all and the plot was a little boring for me. I really wanted to love this book. The synopsis sounded amazing. Unfortunately it fell very flat for me.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from KidLitExchange and Sky Pony Press. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3/5

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 16+ (homophobia, transphobia, sexism, abuse, sexual assault)

Pages: 336

Author Website

Amazon Link

Synopsis: There’s no place for a girl in Mary’s world. Not in the home of her mum, desperately drunk and poor. Not in the household of her wealthy granny, where no girl can be named an heir. And certainly not in the arms of Nat, her childhood love who never knew her for who she was. As a sailor aboard a Caribbean merchant ship, Mary’s livelihood—and her safety—depends on her ability to disguise her gender.

At least, that’s what she thinks is true. But then pirates attack the ship, and in the midst of the gang of cutthroats, Mary spots something she never could have imagined: a girl pirate. 

The sight of a girl standing unafraid upon the deck, gun and sword in hand, changes everything. In a split-second decision, Mary turns her gun on her own captain, earning herself the chance to join the account and become a pirate alongside Calico Jack and Anne Bonny.

For the first time, Mary has a shot at freedom. But imagining living as her true self is easier, it seems, than actually doing it. And when Mary finds herself falling for the captain’s mistress, she risks everything—her childhood love, her place among the crew, and even her life.

Breathlessly romantic and brilliantly subversive, The Unbinding of Mary Reade is sure to sweep readers off their feet and make their hearts soar.

2018 is the year of the YA sea-faring books so I found another sea faring book to review! I found this book to be an interesting read. The main character was very complex and I’m still not sure what to think about her. I also thought that this book was unique in that it showed a cross-dressing female.

However, I’m very concerned with how trans and genderqueer people were shown and portrayed and treated in this book. There was a lot of abuse and hurtful statements towards them and it was really hard to read. The way the book was written was also really jarring and it took me out of the book each time it shifted. The plot was also really weak and the pacing was super slow. I didn’t feel the romance in this book and honestly there was a lot of it for what I thought would be an awesome sea-faring book.

Verdict: I’d really like to know your opinion if you are LGBT+ on this book. I honestly feel there are some really upsetting parts about this book and I fear that it will be hurtful to people in the long run. In my opinion, I think it can be hurtful and I even got upset reading the book. But I’d like to know your opinion about it.

Milo Jean &
The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

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