Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

90 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

use of f slur

grace_koalateareads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative 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

3.5

“We can’t change those people’s minds. We just love louder and harder than they can hate.”

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith was a difficult  yet important read. The story is split into Pony’s (a trans boy) and Georgia’s (a cis girl) point of view. Both are seniors at a Texas high school just outside of Dallas. For Pony it’s all about going “stealth” and just being a normal guy, for Georgia it’s about cheerleading and being the person people expect her to be. I loved both of them so much, they had great personalities and felt real and genuine. I loved the puns, the banter and the deep and meaningful conversations. 

“When the school treats trans students like they’re different, it gives the green light for the other kids to do the same, but kids are way meaner.”

The side characters were where my discomfort started, especially with Max, Pony’s “out and proud” best friend, who came across very “black and white” and wanting him to share things on social media that made him feel uncomfortable. I know the ending sort of cleared those things up, but it felt too rushed and too shiny (or gold, if you will) like it wasn’t real.  Being “out and proud” is great, it’s awesome, but not if it isn’t safe to do so. It also made me uncomfortable with the amount of trans and queer slurs, especially as they didn’t need to be written down to get the point across.

“Some days, I barely think about being trans. And other days, it’s an obstacle course.”

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, just not as much as I was expecting. A lot of really heavy topics were covered, such as transphobia, misgendering and forced outting - these weren’t the reason for my lower rating, but more how they were handled/written especially when a character was the one causing said topics. I was definitely hooked and finished the book in just over a day. It’s one that I think a lot of people, who don’t understand what being trans means, should read, however, overall it just made me feel drained.

“I raise my glass in toast and say (but not too loudly, “Here’s to being trans in Texas.””

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

eruanna317's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia

jhna04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• 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

4.25

Well the character of Georgia certainty grew. But the starting point was appalling. “I need to protect my image”. literally what a horrific thing to say. Awfull person. Pony is ever so slightly annoying, but his life’s obviously an enormous pile of shit, so I forgive him. Transphobes should all go to jail until some fucking compassion is forced into their close minded stupid brains

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, and Violence

loiseigenraam's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I really appreciate this book for the story it tells, but it being a YA story I'm just 'too old' to really appreciate the teenage drama that is going on in the book. Things like the prank war between the football team and the cheerleading squad or the 'jokes' Georgia made really had me rolling my eyes. 

 

Besides that, I did enjoy the book and the story. I found it very interesting, and heart wrenching, to see the world through a transgender boy's eyes. I really liked Pony as a character too. Lets just not talk about his name though... I also sobbed my eyes out ofc. I agree with all the reviews saying this book should come with trigger warnings. Please look those up if you have any triggers before you read this book. 

 

I definitely recommend this book for the transgender POV and learning more about that. And if you're a younger reader, you might also enjoy the whole story around that too. 

 

Something that annoyed me very much was Pony's friend Max. I understand him wanting Pony to be out and proud and wanting him to be an advocate. But as someone who’s gone through the same process and is also a receiver of transphobia and harassment, you’d think he’d have more of an understanding towards Pony’s hesitation to be out and would kindly nudge him in the right direction while respecting his choices and his personal timeline, instead of actually putting an ultimatum on their friendship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Deadnaming

wrinnola's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Dysphoria

Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

ian_loves_dragons's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

2.5

The main cis-trans romance in this book could be described as “why I’m t4t,” except we’re supposed to root for them to be together 

-sincerely, a frustrated trans person 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, and Suicide

kai_ash's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful

4.0

I really liked this book. There were a few struggles - like the fact the protagonist supposedly felt it was very important to be stealth and yet named himself 'Pony'? That one was confusing - though maybe a name like that reads as more male/macho in Texas?

I really enjoyed the relationship dynamics between the characters. They weren't always clean, but they felt real, and there was just enough supportive love to help the reader get through the darker chapters. The ending was pretty unrealistic, but it's a fiction novel, so let's end on a happy note, eh?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Violence

If you'd prefer to avoid the transphobic violence, give the Pony, 9:12 PM section in Chapter 20 a miss.

luxxltyd's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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: Hate crime, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

whosfernn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I knew almost nothing about this book when I picked it up. Looking at the cover and the blurb, I assumed it would be a cute coming-of-age romance. What it actually is is probably the best, most moving tale of a trans boy I've ever read. It's a very realistic look at the trans experience, especially how it can be to be trans in southern America. Beautiful. One of my favourites, probably my favourite read of 2023 so far. Please read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Religious bigotry