Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada

81 reviews

agusbelegni's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Es un libro único, que todo el mundo debería leer, donde la autora nos abre su corazón para acercarnos a miles de mujeres y personas travestis y trans y nos permite conocer sus luchas, alegrías, miedos, amistades, violencias, sufrimientos e injusticias.
No es un libro que trate sobre una realidad ligera y alegre, pero no deja de transmitir la fiesta travesti, con una prosa mágica y cercana, que se lee como una charla entre mates con la autora.
Con toques de realismo mágico, muy argentino y sentido, es un libro inolvidable y movilizante que quiero volver a leer una y mil veces.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Vomit

savvylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Bad Girls is perhaps the biggest testament to chosen family that I've ever read. Right from the start, Sosa Villada describes the solidarity and care that the self-described travestis have for one another. When their matriarch, Auntie Encarna, finds and adopts an abandoned baby, the travestis rally around Encarna to help her raise the child. This is the background for the rest of the narrative, which follows Camila as she navigates the danger and violence of sex work as a trans woman.

Overall, Bad Girls was an intensely compelling yet absolutely devastating novel. Sosa Villada writes with a unique blend of humor, magical realism, and blunt honesty. I felt truly immersed in a world that I'd known absolutely nothing about prior and I'm so glad I was. (Even if it often completely broke my heart).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

ktfytz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

An intensely sad book. It feels like reading a dream, or someone else's dream. The narrative is jerky and confusing, switching timelines and locations but ultimately moving in a linear direction. Perhaps it reflects the disjointed reality of its protagonists. Exploring the world of trans sex workers in Cordoba, Argentina, this memoir(?) is incredibly interesting while overwhelmingly sad. I think the blasé manner in which the horrors suffered by the protagonist and her colleagues is described is what makes this book so depressing. Despite this I'm really glad I read it. 

The writing and translation were really beautiful, some favourite quotes include: 

"So we chased our johns, forced into [...] feeling that there was nothing worse than being a fairy choking on the hot world of men, where all issues are resolved with kicks and punches" (97)

"But poverty draped its cloak further and further over me" (109)

"He was a cowardly, cheap, cunning, and grabby. But give credit where credit is due: he also made chocolate-covered pancakes with dulce de leche in about two minutes and they were always perfect, it was the only manifestation of beauty of which he was capable." (172)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, and Alcohol

mielenmaisemia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use

wmelissa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Abandonment

cybrgloss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Transphobia, and Violence

chilltash's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Abandonment

caecilia's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Transphobia, and Violence

the_readingraven's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

“Something began in the dark. I’m talking about my dark now, I’m talking about myself. I’m talking about the feeling of being force-fed fistfuls of dirt by God himself.” 

TW: Homophobia, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Murder, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Rape.

This is such a sad impactful book. This is part autobiography and magical realism, honestly, the magical realism kept me in the story when I felt like I couldn't read much more. I read this with my ears so it was so easy to turn off but I wanted to hear Camila's story of her and the travesties (trans women) living in Argentina. 

We follow Camila and other travesties in their lives as sex workers, often facing the brutalities in the world for simply existing and choosing to be their true selves. The violence these women faced is heartbreaking, the only positive is that they have each other.  It was so tough for me to get through this book, I took many breaks, some even days to get back into reading. Overall, I am glad that I read it, I am also so happy to look up Camila Sosa Villada and see how great she is doing! She has gone on to do acting and singing as well as writing other work! If they have English translations, I will be interested in reading more from her. 

I give all memoirs 5 stars out of respect to the author for their vulnerability. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Dysphoria

Minor: Child death, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

abassard's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Suicide and Transphobia

Minor: Rape and Vomit