Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Fraternity by Andy Mientus

13 reviews

nosferatofu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

No words. No notes. This is a MUST-read for queer folks. For ANYONE. I am so deeply and implausibly upset that it’s over. I am truly inconsolable after this one. Mientus tackles plenty of heavy and important topics that are still prevalent today in the pages of this book, while also managing to keep your attention and make the reading experience charming and fun following the cult-like, dark academia setting and storyline. Immaculate. Moving. Eldritch-esque. Easily earns a place in my top 5 favourite books of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, and Deadnaming

smack_books's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

meg_thebrave's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

This is a spectacular debut, a really beautiful story. I loved these characters and I love how Mientus wove real queer history into the pages of this story. It’s a slow start, but pays off breathtakingly. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer and Blood

courtknee__vn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

• 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

4.5

This book kept me so hooked! It was definitely a difficult read at times because it deals with some really difficult topics including homophobia, death, bullying, racism, and abuse to name a few. I loved the dark academia setting, it was especially perfect for this time of year! At first, I honestly thought this was set in college because the characters just seem older than 15-16 but it didn’t deter from the YA aspect. I loved the audiobook, it had multiple narrators so it made it easy to distinguish between the 3 povs! I also really liked all 3 of the main characters and being in each of their heads was such a different experience but helped really round out the story! Overall, I just really enjoyed this one and definitely recommend!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

adamderb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Vomit

Minor: Biphobia, Deadnaming, and Death

goldenlake's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Biphobia

zpitts's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism and Blood

pkc's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

I thought this might be a spooky witchy occult book, which it was in lots of ways, but it was also a gorgeous found family queer story set at a time when such found families were looked up derisively. The book is set in 1991, while America and the world still reels from the impact of AIDS at Blackfriars School for boys in the fictional town of Adders Lair in Massachusetts. It was a book that was shocking, scary, joyful, funny, sexy. Any superlative you can think of probably applies here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

pagesofnay's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

Fraternity is a queer, dark academia set in the ‘90s. There is magic involved and it was such a chilling and atmospheric read.

This story was very compelling. As soon as I started the audiobook, I couldn’t turn it off. The writing was great, it flowed really well. It was a quick and easy listen. The queer history that was included in the book was enlightening. It’s mot often you read a book that brings up important social issues and queer politics from the ‘90s while being blended with fiction that is done so well.

I loved how it had multiple point of views. Each character has such a distinct narrative and it’s interesting to switch between them. The story follows Zooey, Daniel, and Leo. They are very well written and I loved their relationships with one another.

This book was quite the read and I most definitely will be rereading. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Vomit

Minor: Deadnaming, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

amengels's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Vomit