Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

11 reviews

onewoman_bookclub's review

adventurous fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Transphobia

Minor: Addiction

meremeth's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-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: Murder, Hate crime, Violence, Transphobia, Self harm, and Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

willows's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

 

Both very real and very surreal at the same time. I liked how raw it was and how the fantasy elements just kind of made sense. I liked the portrayal of how seeing yourself as dangerous can be a bit of a defense mechanism-- I don't know, I think the portrayal of trauma in general was handled really well. Like it didn't sugarcoat it and the Hurt was there but it was just as much about healing and finding your power and community and a bunch of other things that just made it really hopeful. And for a book that could have been so heavy, it was also pretty fun. Very unique and well done, I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Death, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, Hate crime, and Transphobia

yaoipaddle's review

challenging emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.0

Listened to the audiobook. It was just ok. A fun and quick listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Cursing, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Murder, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical content, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Body shaming

espeon's review

dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Self harm, and Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction and Sexual violence

thewordsdevourer's review

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

this book was so friggin FUN. the magical realism aspect was one of my fav things--how it was naturally woven into the setting and story--and it was a joy to keep reading simply bc i wanted to see what weird, interesting, simultaneous-knitted-brows-and-smile-inducing things were gonna pop up on the page.

and it was so refreshing to see a trans author write a trans story that defied any external expectations, instead steamrolling into an adventurous, exciting romp full of diverse and multidimensional trans women doing fun and badass things, yet upholding and supporting one another in their community-minded found family, while also tackling serious topics like self-love, self-discovery, identity, and clashing ideals. the various forms of verse, prose, and even play made the story more effective and interesting as well.

this was unlike anything ive ever read and im excited to read more works by kai cheng thom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Murder, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

suzyreadsbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Self harm, Death, Murder, and Body shaming

Moderate: Gore, Fatphobia, Addiction, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Deadnaming

simple_alien's review

emotional 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

5.0

Magical and bada**. A must read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Transphobia, Murder, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Body shaming, Body horror, and Blood

emfass's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

A beautiful, gut-wrenching read. Honestly I don't want to say too much more because I think it is best to go in knowing very little, except perhaps that this is a fictionalized memoir, not a true-to-life nonfiction one, though it carries many truths. The narrator remains nameless, and is a young Asian trans girl trying to find a place for herself.

Haunting, heartbreaking, powerful, hopeful, full of magical realism and the power of trans femininity. I read it on audiobook and would love to revisit it in hard copy form.

Many many quotes I loved that I forgot to capture as I was voraciously listening, but one I did write down: 

 "That's the difference between love and hunger. Hunger is a story you get stuck in. Love's the story that takes you somewhere new." 

I'm so grateful to the Bad Bitch Book Club's LGBTQIA+ subgroup for picking this one, I don't know if I would have heard about it or read it otherwise!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Sexual assault is a definite undercurrent, and is threatened or implied many times, but I can't recall if any instances happened explicitly on-page.

communoah's review

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual violence, and Self harm