Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Klune

13 reviews

beckcatbooks's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

TJ Klune never misses! 😭 This tender, beautiful, hilarious, haunting book is just everything. It deals with heavy topics of grief and death in such a sensitive, moving, and deeply human way. It is also so much goddamn funnier than it has any right to be 😂 A masterpiece!! ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Murder, Homophobia, and Violence

wormgirl's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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: Grief, Murder, Child death, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Cancer, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment

lisajh5858's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Homophobia

emmstuke's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Murder, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Homophobia and Child death

Minor: Cancer

kelly_e's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-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

 Title: Under the Whispering Door
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.0
Pub Date: September 21, 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Enchanting • Contemplative • Endearing

📖 S Y N O P S I S

When Wallace is collected from his own funeral by a reaper, it appears as though he may be dead. And when he arrives at a peculiar tea shop, meeting Hugo who offers to help him cross over, it confirms he is indeed dead. Wallace wasn't a very nice person in life nor did he really live, so when he is given a week to cross over, he sets about truly living and attempting to make amends.

💭 T H O U G H T S

This is one of those books that's hard to review because there were things that I absolutely loved, but there were other things that grated on me, but at the end of the day this is a compassionate exploration of life and love, and by extension of grief and death. Written in a light tone with Klune's trademark humour and wit, the soulful, well-developed characters make the book. Wallace and Hugo are the main focus, but for me it was really the supporting cast (Nelson, Mae, and Apollo) who really shone.

I was fascinated by the concept of a stopping ground between life and death. Having dealt with a lot of death in the past three years, in some way the idea gave me a sense of peace. The teashop setting, with its warm and inviting atmosphere felt like the perfect fit for such a place.

What didn't really work for me was the length. It just felt like it went on and on, when it easily could have been condensed in placed. And I definitely was not a fan of the ending. But it was the insistent focus on positivity and that "things happen for a reason" that didn't sit well with me.

Overall, it just never hit the mark on the profoundness it should have had even though I appreciated the personal growth. It wasn't the ending I was expecting, nor the one I wanted. I liked it, just didn't love it. But I'm definitely glad I read it and would recommend picking it up, but make sure you're in the right headspace.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• T.J. Klune fans
• book clubs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"This life isn't an easy one. Day in and day out we're surrounded by death. You either learn to live with it, or let it destroy you."

"From the moment you're born, you're dying."

"Sometimes the best way to help someone is not to say anything at all." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal death and Homophobia

thewileyseven's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

Just lovely. Warm and queer and simple and lovely. I absolutely inhaled this book--enjoyed this so so much and can't wait for whatever TJ Klune does next.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, Suicide, and Child death

headachesince03's review

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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Suicide attempt, Injury/injury detail, Animal death, Murder, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content and Homophobia

batwinggoth's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.5

The book has a slow start, but the delivery of main character's struggles and inner monologue are written whimsically and humorous which is a great balance to the dark and heavy themes of the novel. The characters are all written well with great detail to each. The story's narrative is well encompassing of both predictable story progression and the pleasantly unexpected that pull you even deeper into the story being told.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Car accident, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Self harm

The book is centered around dead people and meeting people from all walks of life as they die in various ways - understanding and helping them process their dead and pass. Most characters are complicated and real with great detail of their emotions, feelings, and inner dialogue and they process their life and what happened to them or what they're currently going through. There's a child

Spoiler

who died from terminal illness whose mother is actively grieving and constantly visiting the tea shop (central setting of the book).

There's a character who we meet who was

Spoiler

murdered in an ally who recounts his death and expresses his extreme anger drastically.

There's a character who was bullied and emotionally abused

Spoiler

by his parents and experiences a sudden loss of his partner in the hospital and ends up dying by suicide due to his overwhelming grief.

The main character begins as an extremely toxic, workaholic and overall extremely bitter man who had been once married to a woman, the both of whom where extremely toxic and gaslighting towards each other in the end. The sexual harassment

Spoiler

is only in reference to a man and a woman who visit their tea shop often and constantly hits on Hugo in inappropriate ways and in one instance the man even says he'll 'wear him down' despite Hugo already rejecting him multiple times.

The animal death

Spoiler

is only mentioned because a main character, Apollo, is a ghost dog who had passed.

I may have missed other important instances of tagged content, but hopefully this helps give folks a better idea about the themes who need it to determine whether reading the book is right for them. I'd say while it's not impossible to skip past some graphic subjects, death and grief are unavoidable and I would suggest you not read the book if you are actively in mourning yourself unless you find reading about other people's grief and experiences cathartic in processing your own grief.

readtheroomjess's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This might be my new all time favorite book. It’s such a beautiful story, and so well told. I put off reading this one for a while because I knew it dealt with death, and I assumed it would be a bummer. That couldn’t be further from the case. While this book does deal with death and has many sad moments, it is ultimately one of the most hopeful, joyful, and inspiring stories I’ve ever read. It’s really about  love, second chances, chosen family, and what it actually means to live. I know I’ll revisit this story again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Death

vicgarc's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt