A review by storytimed
From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust
2.0
THIS IS A BAD BOOK.... like genuinely it's just awful
I knew there was a chance that it would be bad bc it's one of the earliest books on my goodreads to-read list, which means I added it about ten years ago when I had absolutely no taste at all
But I was like, you know what, I am interested in superhero media from authors of color! And the synopsis (therapist to superheroes tries to treat a fractured alt-Justice League) seemed really interesting!
But it was bad.......................... genuinely so many of the plot twists should not have happened, including a "straight girl pretends to be gay for clout" storyline
There were interesting things about it? Like, X-Man, the 70s Blaxploitation analogue, embodies both the high and low points of the movement. He starts as a paranoid conspiracy theorist caricature, but ends up being the only character with a little bit of nuance. He's rightfully criticized for excusing the homophobia of his peers and allowing his image as an activist take precedence over the people he actually cares about, but in the end he's still the most rational guy in the novel
Which makes the ending, where he dies at the hands of the Batman-analogue industrialist supervillain, SUPER interesting. Dr. Brain never believes him, and neither does the rest of (white) society. Totally out of left field but also v. believable
However, to get to the ending you have to slog through page after page of ridiculous cliche, phonetic dialogue and everyone talking like this
Not worth it.
I knew there was a chance that it would be bad bc it's one of the earliest books on my goodreads to-read list, which means I added it about ten years ago when I had absolutely no taste at all
But I was like, you know what, I am interested in superhero media from authors of color! And the synopsis (therapist to superheroes tries to treat a fractured alt-Justice League) seemed really interesting!
But it was bad.......................... genuinely so many of the plot twists should not have happened, including a "straight girl pretends to be gay for clout" storyline
There were interesting things about it? Like, X-Man, the 70s Blaxploitation analogue, embodies both the high and low points of the movement. He starts as a paranoid conspiracy theorist caricature, but ends up being the only character with a little bit of nuance. He's rightfully criticized for excusing the homophobia of his peers and allowing his image as an activist take precedence over the people he actually cares about, but in the end he's still the most rational guy in the novel
Which makes the ending, where he dies at the hands of the Batman-analogue industrialist supervillain, SUPER interesting. Dr. Brain never believes him, and neither does the rest of (white) society. Totally out of left field but also v. believable
However, to get to the ending you have to slog through page after page of ridiculous cliche, phonetic dialogue and everyone talking like this
Not worth it.