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cleot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, and Suicide
boyinajar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Transphobia
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
lily_peach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
If Ry had been a nonbinary character, a lot of the things he said regarding his gender and his body would have made sense. As he is explicitly a trans man it instead came across as though the author does not see trans men as ‘real men’ and projected this onto Ry - I do not know a single binary trans person who would happily deadname themselves to strangers, call themselves ‘anatomically [their assigned gender at birth]’ or be happy with a partner who constantly invalidates their gender in the way Victor does.
There were moments that played around with gender in a way I thought was interesting (e.g. Ron constantly filp-flopping on whether or not Ry was a ‘real man’ based on completely arbitrary things) but not enough to save it imo.
A kind of enjoyable story, but I don’t think it really went anywhere. The ending was disappointing.
Also I felt that the sexual assault scene was entirely unwarranted and added very little to the plot. What was the point of it? To show that absolutely no one sees Ry as a ‘real man’? The transphobia of the other characters did that well enough.
All in all a clever concept and I very much enjoyed the writing style but I found it lacking.
Graphic: Deadnaming, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, and Alcohol
hannahbailey's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I've read several reviews of this novel in which people describe Winterson as transphobic. In this novel specifically, I don't see the ignorant views of the characters as a reflection of her own views. However, there is very crude language used throughout which focuses on the anatomy of the characters. I don't feel that this narrative focus on bodily features has aged well (I know this book is only 3 years old but even then) in response to present ideas of gender, sex and identity. The characters around Ry are consistently transphobic, denying their identity, misgendering them and deadnaming them. This is a book to read if you're interested in the future of AI and human relationships, but not if you're looking for a story with good trans rep. Had this book not featured Frankenstein but a different cautionary tale, such as Brave New World, I probably would've hated it.
Alternative reads with trans rep/trans authors:
https://bookriot.com/best-trans-fantasy-books/
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/126482.Novels_by_Trans_Authors_with_Trans_Protagonists
Jeanette Winterson//transphobia:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-lgbt-books/no-rush-to-change-gender-uk-writer-joins-trans-debate-idUSKCN1T028R
Non-exhaustive list of TW: sexual assault, transphobia, homophobia, child death, miscarriage, misogyny, body horror/gore
Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Medical content
Moderate: Miscarriage
circesophelia's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Moderate: Death
Minor: Gore
mryshells's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Alcohol
sophiewelsh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, and Antisemitism