Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

7 reviews

thejuliette's review

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challenging emotional medium-paced

4.0

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queenfury's review

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • 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'm conflicted in how I feel about this one. I went into it expecting a powerful, painful but necessary read. But after a while, it seems like it turned into trauma porn. Absolutely nothing goes Max's way, and he is stripped of all autonomy in every decision in his life, both due to being "a pushover" who doesn't want to rock his already fragile family and as a "scientific interest." At first, I recognized this as a reflection of his intersexuality and how it didn't feel like it belonged to him, but even after
Spoilerthe 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.
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eliasiexil's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

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danielle2121's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced
  • 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

*Re-read - 2022*
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...
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delilahreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
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noravercamer's review against another edition

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emotional sad
  • 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? It's complicated

3.75

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lilacvictim's review against another edition

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Pausa. Muito pesado e com gatilhos para o momento que estou vivendo
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