Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

An Ordinary Wonder by Buki Papillon

7 reviews

somelesbianwriter's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Miscarriage, and Suicide

jijirich's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Outing, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Child death and Rape

quinnjuliac's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

I listened to the audio book and am so glad I did. The narrator was wonderful and really brought Lori/Oto to life. It’s a very troubling story of emotional and physical abuse and abandonment of a child, but it is also a really wonderful story of how just a few affirming adults can change the course of a child’s life. I am a nurse and was so struck by the interaction the main character has with the school nurse as a child and what a massive impact that had on them. The characters will definitely be sticking with me!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Outing, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

woweewhoa's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, and Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

e_od's review

adventurous hopeful informative sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

laughingrecord's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

seeceeread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective sad tense

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

💭 "If everything in existence had many stories — the real ones, and the shadow ones, and the fantastical ones —then what was my real story?"

Born with ambiguous genitalia, Otolorin has been forced to live as a boy, despite early assertions of her girlhood. Called "Oto" throughout the text, she longs to present Lori. Slowly, she discovers talent for visual arts, a best friend, a passion for romance novels. Along the way, she dodges a lethal grandmother, an epic bully, sexual assault, a painfully neglectful mother and the tripwires of her assumed masculinity among adolescent peers. Papillon equips her with spiritual guides, a book of proverbs, a committed karate teacher, stellar academics and a surrogate father figure. 

This debut feels somewhat like 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 and 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝘇. The premise is bold. Lori's day-to-day grappling with gender is written with tenderness and care. Some of the imagery and construction really sing, including out of body scenes in which Lori convenes with Yeyemi for divine courage. We could talk and talk about this one! Still, the total package is crowded, especially at the end when we move from character study to thriller (and a dash of romance): Lori hogties one of her attackers, masquerades as her sister, records key details to denounce a bad actor, then blackmails her absent father into funding a happily-ever-after. Plus her bully is actually a Terminator member of a confraternity. And her other grandmother is hurriedly revealed as a sort of fairy godmother. And her best friendship morphs into becomes a long distance romance. (😩)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment