Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Nevada

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

10 reviews

biobeetle's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

libby_l96's review against another edition

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dark funny informative medium-paced

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

3.75

Unpopular opinion: I love the way Binnie writes dialogue without speech marks. The prose flows like a train of thought, and it's just so PUNK.
Maria is a bit unlikeable at first, but I really warmed to her. I think that's because she acknowledges her demons so candidly towards the end that it kind of made me feel sad, but also hopeful for her.
It was also super interesting to see the interaction between Maria and James. It's almost like Maria was visiting her younger self as a ghost of trans-ness future, and then you realise that in reality every person can only learn from their own journey.
Overall I enjoyed the book, and I didn't find it too challenging to pick up and put down every now and again. Having read Torrey Peters' De transition, Baby last year, I can see how influential this book has been. It just didn't completely blow me away enough for a higher rating.

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atomicbritt's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

libbyluvr's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative reflective medium-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? Yes

4.25

these are maybe some of the most real characters I’ve ever read. definitely up in the top 10— all of them were so different, even when they were similar; that made it such a fun journey. not to mention, imogen binnie is great at making every bit of word salad into a beautifully plated meal. her stream-of-consciousness writing is one she dips in and out of so effortlessly, and I ate it up big time! when it’s done well, I love it, and this was done more than just well

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alisonfaith426's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

dustghosts's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective tense medium-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? Yes

3.25

I keep waffling on how I want to rate this book. It’s a work that feels deeply personal, deeply “of its time,” and like the debut work that it is. I think that “the discourse” (which I say sort-of ironically and in finger-quotes, and sort-of not) around trans issues has necessarily changed enormously since this was written and published— in some positive ways, yes, but also as right-wing groups create bogeyman out of trans people for talking points and cultural control.

All this to say: when I speak with my friends, these days, about whatever the online manufactured inter-community discourse of the day is, I often find myself saying something like, “I wish there was a way for this conversation to be happening, but just between trans people.” And all that to say: that’s what this book feels like to me, a book about and for and between trans people, a conversation that centers us and particularly trans women. It’s not that I wouldn’t want cis people to read it, and it’s not as though it wouldn’t be accessible to people who are not trans— but it’s for us. That’s its strength and its greatest charm, and I think that’s why I want to take its flaws with a grain of salt and a baseline of good will.

It’s not a perfect book, and not one where I feel I agree with everything that the narrators do or say or think— but hearing the author herself read it, you feel the willingness to be wrong, a self-deprecating awareness that to tell an individual trans persons story isn’t to endorse every aspect of it. There are beats that resonate down to the very core, and throughlines that feel eerily familiar, and flawed gold veins of selfishness that feel raw and real.

Our main characters are a little to sometimes a lot pathetic and very humanly flawed and variably likeable depending on the day. Our plot meanders and skids and gets knocked off track and never decides to get back on it. Our narration… feels very much like the 2012-2013, first-person forum writing— but I liked listening to it, and the wry sort-of-bashful-sort-of-cocky self awareness of it. There’s a lot of humor and heart here. There’s a lot of frustration, also. I don’t know that I would want to know most of these people; I felt dragged into the spotlight by some of the similarities I felt with them, too. The afterword was one of the best parts— I loved hearing what the author had to say about what the book is about, and her reflections on her own life in regards to the work, and her discussions about the act of crafting it, and what she chose to show and what to leave out.

Anyway, I didn’t love it the whole way through. Anyway, I couldn’t stop listening. Anyway, I love that it exists. As always, mind the content warnings— mine probably won’t cover it all just because I’ve been noodling around the book itself a little too much.

Content Warnings

sincetheflood's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

elizmoe's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

lidia7's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective 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

Content Warnings

boy_topics's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

I hated this book. The characters are intensely unlikeable, every single one of them. I was hoping that the second half would bring some kind of redemption but the ending makes no sense. I don't get it. 2 stars for being kind of on the nose with some trans stuff. I think a lot of trans girls might find parts of this book really relatable. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend it.

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