Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

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

53 reviews

sbloom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Police brutality, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm

robinks's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this magical, fantasy-tinged memoir. I got sucked into our protagonist’s world and all the events and people that showed up. I was also satisfied with how things turned out for her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Grief, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: Drug use, Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

ash_ton's review

dark hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

i have a lot of thoughts about this book. maybe i'll get around to writing a review someday lol. i feel i should specify that i am nonbinary afab and i feel unfair giving this book a low rating since i am not a trans woman. that is not the reason i gave it a low rating. it's mostly the style and format of the book itself!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Dysphoria, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Body shaming

siriface's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Drug use, Violence, Police brutality, and Death

jamieruwen's review

adventurous funny mysterious 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

4.5

This was wonderful: fierce and gentle, prodding and sweet, dark and magical. A magical realism, surreal biomythography about a trans girl and the fierce femmes she finds at her new home on the Street of Miracles after fleeing her old one. Our unnamed protagonist learns to reconcile the aggression and trauma within her after she and her friends form a trans girl-gang and go on a self-defensive spree of violence. A great book that refuses to be for cis people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Murder

brogan7's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

I'm still deciding if this is a 5.
It's like nothing else I've ever read before and the first 80 pages are so brilliant and in tune and dazzlingly amazing.  Who else writes about trauma this way, who can tell the story of leaving home like that, dying mermaids all over the beach, and you know, you just know, she is telling the story exactly as it was, it is, tonally, perfect.

And then there's an interlude of violent fantasy and I can almost go there but it feels like fiction, then, and it was the archival quality that I enjoyed.

A beautiful, beautiful book.  Almost fell for easy tropes but luckily sidestepped that one.

What do you want to know about being human?  Being human hurts.  And is complicated and fearsome and fierce.

It's not like anything else.  It's shatteringly on point.  Alzena the Witch!!!!  You can't make this stuff up.  It's so good, it can't be made up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Police brutality, Self harm, Violence, Murder, and Sexual violence

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Police brutality, and Transphobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Hate crime, and Self harm

bashsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

• 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? No

4.5

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars is a magical "memoir" that uses poetry and allegory to show what being a trans femme is like - from running away from home, forming a found family, defending herself, and growing as a woman. Though it uses unreality to prove its points, there are no rose-colored glasses in this short book. Everything is brutal, as the lives of many trans women are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I can't wait to read more by Thom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Violence, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Classism, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, and Self harm

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

-Usage of the f-slur as an insult.

solenekeleroux's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Self harm, Police brutality, Murder, Hate crime, Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Drug use

avisreadsandreads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm and Police brutality

Minor: Child abuse