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cjsays'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
5.0
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Transphobia and Medical trauma
pphector's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
aliasbooklover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
steppecreature's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Deadnaming, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Dementia, Stalking, and Abandonment
Moderate: Medical content and Medical trauma
clur707'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
5.0
Another reviewer wrote: “This book combined so many different ways of changing, vanishing, choosing how to live in those world. While the core story is about someone passing as white (who experiences that as living a secret lie), there’s also someone who is transgender (living truer to themselves) and a drag queen (everyone knows they’re not as they appear). There’s a fingerprint reader - your fingerprints are unique and don’t change. There are unhappy people and fairly content people.” …I didn’t think much about the many types of vanishing while reading but loved this noticing and feel as though that will stay with me.
What intrigued me the most was the analysis about whiteness/white supremacy that felt layered into the story via the character who lives her life passing as white and the town itself as this character that preferred Black residents with light skin. These storylines captured so well the pain and violence of whiteness. The fracturing, loss, and trauma that ripples from whiteness at a relational level, passed along through generations and through people.
Another review (nytimes) closed by saying: “As old as the story of passing may be, so too is the effort… to capture its complicated desire and alienating costs.“ and I really felt gripped by the character passing as white’s desire to be “free” and the unimaginable costs of that choice.
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder