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ed_moore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
knittyreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic
in_love_with_him's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
leftovergarlicbread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I found all the characters to be incredibly lovable and fun to read about. I loved their dynamics with each other. Nick was easily my favorite. The few chapters we got from his perspective were all such a treat and added such a fun layer. I loved loved loved how his autism was written. AJW , the author is trans and autistic himself, and you can see that in how he writes these characters. Nick's autism felt so real and authentic without any of the weird stiltedness that can often come from non autistic authors trying to create autistic characters. I found him to be such a compelling and interesting character, how we got to see him do everything he could to avoid growing closer to Benji and still doing so regardless. How we got to see his outside persona, his masking, from Benji's perspective, and then got to see the rawness underneath in his chapters.
I also found Benji to be such a compelling main character. His motivation of "Be good" was done so well. We see him trying to honor his father with this, and trying to balance that with his personal desire for revenge and how he uses "be good" as reasoning for his actions even when it maybe doesn't exactly work. He was so desperate to be anything but what the church wanted him to be, and we see how that intense desire to distance himself from the church and their expectations of him affects him and leads him to decisions both good and bad.
I did find it a little distracting how Benji seemed to constantly switch between being very unaware of queer culture and shocked by diversity -on account of growing up in a literal evangelical cult- and then suddenly seeming quite well read on modern activist takes on race, class, and queerness. I wish we had gotten a little more of how growing up in the cult affected Benji socially and culturally. I wish we got to see him actively learn more about the actual world and learned more about these things from his peers rather than just coming in already with this oddly out of place activist knowledge.
I think the reason this doesn't have a 5 star from me is the ending. The ending is good, it's a nice ending, but I think my main problem with it is that it's a little too nice. The whole book is filled with tradgedy and hardship and death and struggles, and I feel like the ending comes together a little too nicely and happily in tone compared to the rest of the book. Like, i'm GLAD that the characters got a happy ending I was so rooting for them to be happy, but I feel it would have been a little more satisfying with a slightly darker tone to the ending. The ending is also rather open, leaving a lot of room for the reader to imagine where they go from there, but I felt like the ending was a little too open for me personally.
Overall though, this was, despite it's rather heavy story and themes, was such a comforting book to read. It was so unapologetically, loudly queer. It's defiant and hopeful despite the bleak circumstances. In the end it's about community and found family and acceptance and embracing your differences, down to your more "monstrous" and ugly ones. It's about breaking cycles of trauma and trying to be better, despite, despite, despite. It's resilient and beautiful and authentic and messily and angrily queer.
I can absolutely see myself revisiting this and I am absolutely planning reading White's other books too.
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
1234_rowan_1234's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Classism
readingelli's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
ewinnk's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
aplemus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, and Dysphoria
aspen_suxs's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Outing, and Dysphoria
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
hippievamp's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism