queerfelicity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Trafficking
Moderate: Drug use, Death, and Sexual content
vulturetime's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Ableism, and Racism
f18'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
5.0
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Rape
madarauchiha'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
5.0
Iris. Oh Iris my beloved, I really loved her. Following along how she grew up was a perfect way to have a cohesive timeline among the rotating cast and shifting time periods. The way her character arc ends, how she ties everything together and wonderfully done. Plus the link between her and a character in another time period was a great mirroring. I hope that makes sense, I'm trying not to spoil it. Also I admire her for
Spoiler
maybe fucking a ghost? Wow. Goals. Absolutely fantastic. Kinda weird how that happened if I may be frank. There is ambiguity, but kitchen sex? Oh yeah, good for you ladies!Additionally, there may have been some anti sex worker sentiment, in just one portion it's outlined explicitly. I'm not a SWer so I'm not making a judgement call. I noticed it because often people will show SW as something negative and a line of work forced upon people. That's not SW, that's human trafficking.
Again, like the drug addiction portrayal, this is hand in hand with the characterization and actual real life issues gay Black people experience. It's not a bad thing to have shown in a fictional book, but keep in mind it's one facet of a larger picture.
This is the excerpt I'm talking about.
Spoiler
—She says Daddy and her think about you constantly. They would love to hear from you. They’re happy to know you’re clean.Clean. The word, in this context, was repulsive. All the nights he slept in the park, washed up in bus station bathrooms, begged on the streets of DC, Baltimore and Wilmington came back to him. The second skin of grime that washed down the drain of a shelter’s shower. Sucking cock, having his own sucked for money, the horrible passionless orgasmless mechanics of sex for cash. Was he Clean? No. He was cleaner. But he still felt the stains that no amount of scrubbing would vanquish.
GOD. PLOT TWIST BUT ITS PERFECTLY EXECUTED? I'm not sure this is even a plot twist as much as it's 'oh, THAT is what that is!'. I refuse to spoil it here, but my god. What a punch straight to my heart learning about the ghost. And such a brief revelation that told me everything I needed to know! AND it was set up earlier with mentions of the location! And how the ghost couldn't enter houses too?! God this novel needs every sort of book award under the sun.
Black slavery.
Spoiler
Black slavery is absolutely a key theme to this novel, and there are explicit portrayals of it through out the book. There are mentions of phsysical abuse involved with Black slavery, but they brief and lot lingered upon. There are often used racial slurs and racial pejoratives through the book as well, usually in the scenes involving Black slavery. This is not traumaporn. But it is traumatizing to read.Ableism.
Spoiler
Ableism is also a theme here. From Black people with Vitiligo disease in carnival freak shows to discrimination against people who use drugs to synesthesia and mental illness. It's very much present, in the forefront and background. I'm not making a judgement call as saying 'oh, the author is bad because he never showed this as an after school special where it's made explicitly clear that ableism = bad'. I'm saying this as fair warning. I think it was handled with care and not as a point of why something was bad and horrifying. I think it was a great theme in the book how anyone and any behavior not neurotypical or aligned with racist white supremacist social standards was automatically maligned and cast out and designated as 'less than'. It's going to grate on you, subtly, and you will notice it. It's like sitting on a chair made out of cheese graters. After a few hours, you will notice its affect on you.Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, and Sexual content
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, and Torture