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stacy837's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Antisemitism, and Death of parent
Minor: Religious bigotry and Alcohol
courtnoodles'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? Yes
2.0
Excellent writing though. Lots of layered analogies that I loved.
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Classism
dogbuttsandbooks'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
4.25
Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent
Minor: Violence and Antisemitism
antonique_reads'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Antisemitism
solly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The LI was sweet too, though I wish the romance subplot had been a little bit more engaging in places.
There's a few times throughout the book where I wanted people to be MORE angry at Mark instead of just accepting apologies straightaway or refusing his apologies.
I enjoyed the questioning Mark had to go through to find his ground in politics, I enjoyed that one of the best friends was a self-assumed politician shark, I enjoyed some of the subverted tropes, and I enjoyed that this didn't glorify politics/politicians and that it had some critical lines about the whole thing. It was good! Probably not for everyone for several reasons, but it was good.
Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Violence
Minor: Antisemitism and Religious bigotry
xoodlebooks'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
4.75
Things this book has: Trans author, transmasculine main character. Jewish author, Jewish side character that talks a lot about Jewish theology, identity, and intergenerational trauma. Main character with bipolar disorder, but it doesn’t come up much at all. Side character with an anxiety disorder. Depictions of panic attacks. The main character is Catholic. He isn’t very religious, but he used to go to Catholic school, and he had a super eloquent prayer scene towards the end of the book. Emotionally manipulative father. So many good quotes. Diverse cast. Basically all of the main side characters are queer. Some things felt kind of weird / token-y, but maybe I am overthinking it? I am not sure. Academic / extracurricular pressure. Competitive students. The audiobook narrator was really great and had a lot of emotion. They might have pronounced a few words. Either that or the words in question have alternative pronunciations that I am unaware of. Also, there was a bit of Hebrew and Yiddish in the book, but I can’t verify whether or not the narrator’s pronunciation of Hebrew and Yiddish words was good. I really liked this book.
Graphic: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: Biphobia, Cancer, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Genocide, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, and Acephobia/Arophobia