Reviews tagging 'Death'

Boys band killeuses by Goldy Moldavsky

7 reviews

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racism

cheye13's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a perfect book. For me. I cannot and do not widely recommend this. This is a very specific book for a very specific type of person.

First of all: the band in the book is not One Direction - but it's One Direction. This book is for people who were (are) intense One Direction fans during their hype, but on the older end (like fans 18 & up, rather than 13-16yos they were initially marketed to); fans who were just as crazy, but had a smidgen of self-awareness about it. Fans who read/wrote RPF but didn't genuinely believe any of the band was secretly dating each other. Fans who now look back on One Direction and think "they were (are) just regular dudes." A heavy and specifically boyband fanaticism with a sprinkling of realism. Probably also helpful if the reader's a queer woman (and managed to avoid that whole "i'm gonna marry [boybander]" phenomenon).

This book isn't written like a marketable, mainstream novel. It's written like a - very good - boyband fanfiction. I'm obsessed with it. This may be my favorite book of the year.

EDITED TO ADD: you know that Bob's Burgers episode where Louise wants to slap BooBoo? Take that, age it up, satirize it a little further, and pad out the plot to fill a novel. i.e. if you Understood™ Louise in that episode, you'll get this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Outing

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

difficult to discern when the fatphobia was intentional (i.e. from character pov) or incidental from the author's pov. readers are likely prepared for the manner of sexual assault the girls perpetrate on the boy band (limited to groping and lewd comments), but likely unprepared for the manner of sexual assault committed by one of the boys on a female fan:

in a past even desccribed by a character, one of the boy band sends a girl's nonconsensual nude pictures to the other members and summons them to see her naked. still only very briefly described, but a longer scene than the other incidents.

singalana's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

What can I say about this book, except that I loved it! 

I found it through BookTube, and I didn't know what to expect. I listened to it as an audiobook, and the reader (Barrett Wilbert Weed) was brilliant: she sounded perfect for the role, all the while managing to give each of the characters different voices that actually sounded good! The characters were all interesting and executed well, and the pacing worked. The twists took me by surprise, I had no idea what was going to happen in the end. 

This book deals with fandoms and fan culture, and I think it handles the topic quite well and gives something to think about. There was something outrageously unhinged by this book: it reminded me of My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell and Sweetpea by C. J. Skuse. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

jaybee02's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Can't help but wonder what my younger, boy band crazy self would have thought of this book.

This book is bonkers.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content

danileah07's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

trulydevious's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Outing, and Sexual harassment

magicalghoul's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

First off: Mind the discussion of slut-shaming tw. I'm not putting it in spoiler tags because it's somehow central to the plot and could be highly upsetting. Please take care.

Now, about the book: Enjoyed the concept and the writing style but the rampant fatphobia and the smidge of racism really ruined it for me— just because it's satire or dark humor doesn't mean you get a free pass to punch down.

The outdated (even for 2016) teen slang sometimes took me out as well, but on a second thought I'm glad it went for a known evil (tumblr fandom slang) over a recent one (stolen aave in stan circles).

It was entertaining at least, even if I found myself wishing it had pushed for more at times. Solid three star book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief

A character tells another about a situation where she was humiliated and slut shamed.