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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
alylentz's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
vaughtgn's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Bullying and Racial slurs
Moderate: Homophobia
mfrisk's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Toxic friendship
toonyballoony's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, and Medical content
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tale of growing up as a minority in the 90s, the casual racism, ableism, and queer phobia is much more explicit in its outdated insults and slurs.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
4.0
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!
Graphic: Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Homophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, and Abandonment
Minor: Body horror, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment
lettuce_read's review
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and Dysphoria
Minor: Transphobia
chronicallybookish's review
I don’t rate memoirs. To me, there is something deeply uncomfortable about assigning a numerical value to a book that someone wrote about themself, their life, their experiences. Who am I to judge what they went through or how they chose to portray it? Sure I could get nitpicky on sentence structure and writing craft or in this case illustration, but a book is more than that, so I simply give memoirs no rating at all.
I think this was an impactful, important book. I think it’s going to mean so much to so many people, and I am so glad that it exists. I’m glad I read it, though it made me feel ill to read about some of the things that the author experienced.
I was a little uncomfortable with how many slurs were used, repeatedly. I understand that this is a memoir, set in the 90s, and these things were really said to the author, but I’m not sure how I feel about them repeating them directly, even if it was condemned in text. Many of these slurs were not this author’s to reclaim. The use of slurs is complicated, and I understand the point that they were trying to make, and I’m not even sure it was wrong of them to use these slurs in their memoir. I’m kind of confused on what the “right thing” is when it comes to that sort of thing, if there is one at all, but I did think it important to just, point out, especially since slurs can be very triggering to read, and basically every slur you can think of (except the N word) is used in this book, including ones I’ve never even heard of before.
That said, I do recommend this book. I think everyone should read it, if they are in a place to do so.
Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Lesbophobia
betweentheshelves's review
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Mental illness
kbbru's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence