Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer

12 reviews

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Racism, Violence, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Outing, Body horror, Blood, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs

alylentz's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I read this in one sitting and couldn't put it down. I think the art style was such a great match for the story and really drove home the emotions. I also really enjoyed learning about their love of manga and comics and the way nerd culture was a solace for them. Really memorable and honest graphic novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia

vaughtgn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Racial slurs

Moderate: Homophobia

mfrisk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This graphic novel was stunningly illustrated and did a great job talking about a variety of tough situations the author navigated during childhood including bullying, racism, homophobia, and being othered in a variety of spaces and ways. The author also discusses their feelings around their adoption story and relationships with family and friends and how these are impacted by their mental health struggles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, and Bullying

toonyballoony's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Mental illness, and Gore

As a real tale of growing up as a minority in the 90s, the casual racism, ableism, and queer phobia is much more explicit in its outdated insults and slurs. Their inclusion feels important to justify the impact on the author’s internal journey, but brace yourself accordingly.

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Nonfiction books, even graphic novels, don’t always catch me fully but I sat and read this beginning to end with very few breaks of distraction. I identified with Sarah’s feelings of being left out and feeling crazy and inhuman compared with your peers. I cannot fully comprehend the struggle of being non-white with white parents in a racist small town, but I felt for them as they grew into a teenage. I envy the way they let their interests be big and obvious!

Ironically, I was mocked for liking anime in middle school too. I hid this interest so deeply that I didn’t talk about it publicly again until I graduated college and the world (including my own private world) became more accepting. I’m even jealous of today’s teens growing up in an age where anime and manga are massively popular. When I was bullied for my interests, I shut them down and hid them away. Sarah’s ability to cosplay boldly was brave as heck.

This was a great read from a perspective I’m not familiar with. I encourage anyone who’s ever felt different or “Othered” by society to read this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Bullying, Dysphoria, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Transphobia, Cancer, Abandonment, Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Body horror, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment

lettuce_read's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Ableism, Racial slurs, Bullying, and Racism

Moderate: Dysphoria, Mental illness, and Cancer

Minor: Transphobia

betweentheshelves's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

 Thanks to First Second and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Monstrous by Sarah Myer to review! Graphic Novel memoirs seem to be the trend this summer, becuase I think this is the third or fourth I've read in the last few weeks. And I think they're great! Myer's book might be about adoption, but there are so many elements in this book that teens will also be able to relate to.

One of my favorite things about this book is seeing how Myer's relationship with their dad stayed strong throughout. In fact, their dad even gets into anime, going to conventions with them and everything. It's so sweet! Especially when Sarah is ostracized for her love of cartoons and anime in the book. Little did they know anime would become so popular now in 2023!

The art in this book is also outstanding. Using the monster theme, Myer shows how those negative emotions crept up on them throughout their childhood. Due to the fact that so many people were just so awful to them. There is a lot of homophobia and racism in this book, so just be warned if that's something that's triggering to you.

All in all, this is a powerful book about finding your safe place and finally getting the chance to just be yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Mental illness

kbbru's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

dogearedqueer's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Racism, Mental illness, and Racial slurs