Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Kink: Stories, by Garth Greenwell, R.O. Kwon

8 reviews

toffishay's review

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

I really appreciated what this book was seeking to accomplish; even if I didn't love all of the stories individually, I appreciate this as a body of work that can help us better understand what kink is telling us when we are too busy to listen. My favorite stories were "Trust" by Larissa Pham, "Best Friendster Date Ever" by Alexander Chee, "The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror" by Carmen Maria Machado, and "The Voyeurs" by Zeyn Joukhadar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Violence, Transphobia, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Body horror

Moderate: Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Stalking, Torture, Racism, Injury/injury detail, and Infidelity

thewrongkenna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

1.5

Not as celebratory as I thought. A lot of sadness and shame. Lots of TWs. I enjoyed a few of the stories, much less than I’d hoped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

thewitchturtle's review

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Homophobia, and Transphobia

azariamckay's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.25

Kink is an anthology and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I over its take on desire, sex, queer and trans love, and shameless sex. There were stories I wished were longer and stories I could’ve done without. I would preface this book with a couple trigger warnings: r*pe, s*xual assault, and transphobia. The stories get a little rocky at times and I don’t remember a single story ending on a happy note, which isn’t a bad thing for me, I tend to lean toward depressing reads. The compilation of writers for this novel was amazing and the styles of writing differed in the most interesting ways. Each story felt like it’s own but there felt like a common thread that grounded them all. I would reread a few of these stories in the future for sure! I’m interested in coming back to it later to examine how it ages and how I’ve changed with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Death of parent

emilyharmonica's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Rape, Racism, Homophobia, and Excrement

Moderate: Stalking

travelseatsreads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-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? No

3.0

According to to the blurb 'Kink' is an anthology of literary short fiction based on love, desire, BDSM, and sexual kinks in all their glory with a bold new vision. This book is brimming with heavy hitting well known and accomplished authors so I was really excitied to read something fresh and enthralling. Unfortunately in this case the more well known authors sections were the ones that fell flat and lacked development. Yes, they look at various aspects within the kink world. However, disappointingly, do so at a very basic and dare I say it vanilla level. 

There are some absolute gems there and I particularly enjoyed the pieces by Carmen Maria Machado, Brandon Taylor, Larissa Pham, Peter Mounford and R.O. Kwon. Overall this is a decent read, however I feel would have been much improved by showcasing perhaps lesser known authors who have a deeper understanding of the world and how to convey it rather than just going with the well known heavy hitters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence

invaderlinz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

I enjoyed almost every story but the last, some more than others - as is the way with a lot of short story collections. I think it’s a solid collection, but not as out there as I had expected from all of its hype. I did really love reading these stories from authors I’ve found over the past few years, and seeing them write in a totally different way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Deadnaming and Incest

_lia_reads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia and Physical abuse