ivulikkivulik's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Abortion
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Violence
glass123banan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Abortion, and Rape
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: Rape, Body shaming, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Outing, and Abortion
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic friendship
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: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
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
Spoiler
the characters went, "Gee, maybe we should let Max have control of his own body," after his mother tells the surgeons to proceed with an abortion after Max withdraws his consent, his choices in not wanting to be around his mother anymore and not reporting his rapist to the police or his parents are taken away from him yet again.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: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Vomit, and Drug use
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Abandonment
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
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, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Rape
delilahreads's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Rape and Pregnancy
Moderate: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders
dxisymitch's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Transphobia
Moderate: Suicide attempt