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seventhswan's review
adventurous
dark
tense
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? Yes
5.0
WOW. A real standout book, probably the best I've read this year so far. The Writing Style with its random Capitalisation & occasional use of Abbreviations may have been controversial among reviewers but I thought it was an excellent choice and really helped me feel immersed in the setting and Yip's thoughts.
A list of things I loved about this book: the friendship between Yip and Dud Carter. A very visibly disabled main character who drinks, has sex, and gets in fights. Extremely lovable side characters. The sense of adventure, tension, and foreboding. A violent and sometimes gory Western that manages to never stoop to gratuitous sexual violence. Black and Native American characters that are actual characters and not just stereotypes, without erasing the horrific violence of slavery and racism. A really compelling and exciting plot!
Honestly, this is one of the best books I've read with a disabled main character and it isn't even trying to be about disability or ableism. It is very much genre fiction - it's a Western, it has most of the tropes you'd expect of one. I actually chose it because I enjoyed Patrick de Witt's The Sisters Brothers and wondered if that might extend to other Westerns. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good adventure and wants to feel every feeling, though! The ending was slightly devastating to me, but it made sense, and if there's ever a sequel I'll be all over it.
A list of things I loved about this book: the friendship between Yip and Dud Carter. A very visibly disabled main character who drinks, has sex, and gets in fights. Extremely lovable side characters. The sense of adventure, tension, and foreboding. A violent and sometimes gory Western that manages to never stoop to gratuitous sexual violence. Black and Native American characters that are actual characters and not just stereotypes, without erasing the horrific violence of slavery and racism. A really compelling and exciting plot!
Honestly, this is one of the best books I've read with a disabled main character and it isn't even trying to be about disability or ableism. It is very much genre fiction - it's a Western, it has most of the tropes you'd expect of one. I actually chose it because I enjoyed Patrick de Witt's The Sisters Brothers and wondered if that might extend to other Westerns. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good adventure and wants to feel every feeling, though! The ending was slightly devastating to me, but it made sense, and if there's ever a sequel I'll be all over it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
THEY DID IT! THEY MADE A DARK AND VIOLENT WESTERN WITHOUT ANY SEXUAL VIOLENCE!suebrownreads's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. The dialogue and the story are so different. How refreshing! I found it hard to put down. Yip is such an unusual character, and he tells his "silent" story beautifully. Don't you know there must have been many people in this world similar to Yip who experienced a very similar life! And I love that the setting is North Georgia (just where I live.) I highly recommend "My name is Yip"!
frostyred's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
linnylou21's review
adventurous
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? No
4.0
bonni24's review
4.0
I received this book as a part of a giveaway and was immediately very excited for it because I had not yet read any sort of Western. The writing style was very appealing to me, though I had to read fairly slowly due to the voice being so different from what I'm used to. It is written from Yip's perspective and is very consistent in phrasing and diction, which I found very impressive. I did take a star off though because I do feel that there are moments within the book where it feels a little too slow. For example, it takes about 120 pages for the action/adventure aspect mentioned in the synopsis to begin, so there is really a lot of character development and background before the plot actually begins.
noramiller16's review
adventurous
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? Yes
3.0
boo_trixie's review
Seemed good, but I’m just not in the mood for it. Maybe another time.
louismunozjr's review
2.0
I'm going to shelve this as "paused" or as "DNF" (at page 124), not quite sure which yet. I thought I would really like this book, it checks off so many items of interest, but I couldn't feel or muster any connection to what I was reading, unfortunately. Moreover, the book is extremely slow-going, which I don't always mind. In fact, I can be really patient in that regard, but with this book, nothing really of note happens till about page 84, so I thought, "Ok, now things will pick up," but when they didn't really with another 40 pages of reading, it's time to move on.
itsophieso's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
beevimes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0