Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Es kann nur eine geben by Soman Chainani

5 reviews

kaziaroo's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

I picked this up because I enjoyed the film, although I didn't realise it was based on a children's book. It did contain some very undisguised dark themes though, so if it wasn't for the age of the characters, the writing style and some of the humour, I'd be tempted to call it YA.

It's a shame to see that children's stories still rely on fatphobia and making fun of "ugly" people for humour, and there was a lot of stereotyping of what "good" and "evil" people look like – although a lot of this is critiqued by the narrative, there were some blurred lines: for example, while we are shown that being mean to Dot about her fatness is bad, the author also mentions her size nearly every time she appears, and her size and appetite makes up most of her characterisation. Thankfully, there wasn't a hooked nose in sight, unlike in the film. 

While the plot dragged a bit in places, I really enjoyed the characters in this book and loved the portrayal of a character's descent into madness and the protagonists' respective identity crises. It was a really fun, if dark, read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Slavery, Torture, and Excrement

rumireads's review against another edition

dark funny

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

1.75

• I haven't encountered a book so viciously fatphobic in at least a decade
• the way it sexualised 12 year olds is absolutely disgusting (I can see why they aged the characters up for the movie)
• weirdly homophobic as well. kids calling each other gay as an insult might be accurate but it's certainly not something that I'd like to model for them??
• I think this author has a reeeealy poor opinion of women 

please don't give/recommend this series to the youths, it's genuinely awful towards most kinds of people 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Torture, Blood, and Kidnapping

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Fun idea, but execution fell flat for me with several problematic issues played off as jokes again and again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Body shaming

Minor: Ableism and Homophobia

literallyspiderman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

 read this in the 4th grade, clocked agatha and sophie as gay before i even clocked myself can i get an amen 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Ableism and Misogyny