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horsefamous's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Outing
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic friendship
ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The complexity of the story lies in the fact that Max is intersex (of which there are variations, which I didn’t know) and is violated by a trusted person, which has a ripple affect, altering Max’s life and the lives of those closest to him.
The story is multi-POV, being told from the following points of view:
* Max
* Max’s mum
* Max’s brother
* Max’s dad
* Max’s doctor
* Max’s girlfriend
It was important to me that each POV was explored, rather than having the whole story told solely from Max’s perspective. It made the story feel more real.
One of the biggest themes of the book by far, was bodily autonomy. What right did Max’s offender have to violate Max? How much information about Max’s condition should the Dr/ his parents have volunteered? What is the appropriate way to handle a teen pregnancy and who should be handling those decisions?
I think it’s incredibly fitting that I wrote this review on the day that the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade decision. If I were a less cynical person, I’d believe those Justice’s and the ‘pro-lifers’ would be more compassionate towards Max. Come to think of it, it’s probably a good thing the story is set in the UK.
Content warnings:
⚠️Rape
⚠️Abortion
⚠️Attempted suicide
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Abortion and Suicide attempt
majahultqvist's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
stellastellaef's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
But I just really love this book. I read it for school but I probably would have read it on my own as well.
Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Abortion
queenfury's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I also found the writing itself to be quite bad. The POV shifts are frequent and often unnecessary. Aside from the literal child narrator, who is overly intelligent for his age due to autism (which is never remarked upon by any character), each character has the same narrative voice with almost no distinguishing features. The characters besides Max felt bland and two-dimensional.
Ultimately, I feel like this is a book with important themes that it misses the mark on.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Abandonment
eliasiexil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Vomit, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol
katymitchell's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
danielle2121's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is still such an important book, and truly heart wrenching the whole way through.
I must say there are a few things like views and opinions that may be considered a little out-dated for 2022 when it comes to gender identity, but for the most part everything holds up and still has such important messages at heart.
A wonder of a book.
*First read - 2017*
This book is so god damned important.
I wholeheartedly believe that EVERYONE in the whole world should read it.
This is the first time I've found myself unable to write a review for a book I've read, but truthfully, I'm completely lost for words.
Wow...
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit
mxbenjaminrose's review
3.0
However, I just can't give it too much praise because the heavy subject matter is not handled gracefully, in my opinion. [SPOILER]: The very. first. chapter. is a rape scene. Not an implied scene, either - it's a detailed and explicit account. I'm not against the purposeful use of such heavy scenes, but Tarttelin just drops us into that scene without any build-up or prior attachment to the characters. Every appearance by Hunter in the story is abrupt and makes it hard to follow the story at a reasonable pace.
Maybe I just missed something; like I said, I could see a lot of good here. But the way the subject matter was handled seemed a little careless and caused the story to take some major ups and downs. That said, please keep writing diverse and unique characters like Max.
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I thought the depiction of sexual assault was very well done - taking the reader into Max’s head so we could experience all his emotions. It made the event incredibly real without being explicitly graphic. I also liked the intersex positive tone of the book. While Max’s mother was in favour of surgical interventions if only to make life easier for Max, his father had always opposed it believing that Max was perfect as he was. They didn’t get every parenting decision right (obviously they should have communicated a lot more with Max, especially as he got older)and they weren’t always on the same page but their hearts were in the right place. Max himself seemed generally happy with his body, but understandably worried about the reaction of others and how being intersex would impact him as he got older. A girlfriend was also positive and accepting, although initially overwhelmed. Sadly this won’t be the reality for every intersex teen but it is nice to have some literature offering positive potentials.
My one main criticism was that I felt the book was a little long and that there was a little too much teenage angst. It was perfectly understandable given the plot. But I don’t think anything would have been lost had some material been trimmed a little.
All in all I felt this book did a good job of highlighting some of the issues around being intersex, and did so in an intersex positive way.
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt