Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Alice Austen Lived Here

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino

9 reviews

lilybear3's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

2.5

I usually love everything that Alex Gino writes, but this is the first one I'm not in love with. However, they are so amazing at writing LGBTQIA+ characters and writing about social issues understandable to young readers. They're gentle but direct. I'm always learning when I'm reading an Alex Gino book. The characters were lovable and diverse. The story is interesting, realistic, definitely emotional! Lots of representation of different body types, races, and gender identity. It was kind of cool to see a mentorship/mentee relationship between Sam and Jess. As a kid, you think (a trusted adult your family knows) who hangs out with you or takes interest in your life is a friend but that's not necessarily the case because they're in a completely different stage of life. I learned a lot about Alice Austen and I think it was really cool to bring her story into this one.

My honest critique is that this one didn't flow as well as Melissa or Rick. I loved the characters, but it felt like they were trying to fit a ton of messages into a short amount of pages. It felt forced and, I truly hate to say this as a person who values DEI, like they were going through a checklist. This isn't saying that any of the points were more important than others.

Content Warnings

notlikethebeer's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a very sweet read! I feel a bit apprehensive about reading it, because I very rarely read/review middle grade, and I want to respect that that's the target audience. I guess my main takeaways were that I'm really glad it exists, I'm really glad it's out there and I know it'll already have made it's way into the hands of someone who really needed it, and that's incredible. It did feel a bit preachy at times? - or, more like a lecture, somewhat ironically. And I do think there were better ways of navigating the relationship with Jess, which was a bit odd. Overall however it was a really sweet little book!

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kae_h's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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aus10england's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring

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

3.25

Great diverse book for young readers! I enjoyed learning about Alice Austen as well. It was also really cool to highlight older 'mentors' for queer kids. What bothered me in this book was how annoying some of the characters were, like I would not enjoy hanging out with some of these people LOL.

Content Warnings