Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Ystäväni Dahmer by Derf Backderf

25 reviews

louislover's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

It was a nice change to see a book about someone like this based on their life before they did what they did, it was really interesting to see from someone who actually knew him the things he noticed as he looks back on it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism

evelynleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Violence and Cannibalism

calamitymeat's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.75

Not as sensationalized and out of touch as literally any other true crime story. I appreciate that Backderf only explicitly shows or mentions the murders like 2 or 3 times. It's a lot more tasteful and respectful to the victims and their families than portraying in detail the brutal murder and torture of gay men of colour, unlike other books and shows about Dahmer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, and Cannibalism

moto1480's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

4.0

My Friend Dahmer is an interesting real life story of Backderf's experiences growing up with Jeffrey Dahmer. It's well-written and quickly sucks you in. It would have been very easy for the author to pretend to have been closer to Dahmer than he was, but he's very clear about the high school friendship(?) that he had with him. The art is different and I'm not an huge fan of Backderf's style. It's sweaty MAD magazine-esque, if that makes sense. 

While Backderf says repeatedly that he didn't write this to engender sympathy for Dahmer, you can't help but wonder what could have been if anyone was paying attention to him before he killed for the first time. I actually think this graphic novel is Backderf's way of coming to terms with being unable to do anything for and about Dahmer. I enjoyed this immensely, though the end ran out of steam.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Murder

mjtal's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Murder

Minor: Stalking

riddlemethis's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Murder

Minor: Cannibalism

olivinebranch's review against another edition

The casual ableism was Not It for me. Bummer because I've loved Backderf's other works

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

The graphic novel didn't trivialize the terrible things Jeffrey Dahmer did, and it did give insight into the circumstances through which he was created, or at least not stopped. It felt weird to read about him in a positive light. The author specified that Dahmer's actions were unforgivable and that his sympathy for Dahmer ended at his first murder, but the narrative can be disconcerting at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Abandonment

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, and Murder

emmalouix's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder