Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas

4 reviews

mikaclapson's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, War, Vomit, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

Completely wowed by this book! I didn’t really know what this was about going into it, and I am so impressed by the bold character work and stunning writing! A complex portrait of high schoolers and burgeoning queerness and obsession and post 9/11 anxiety, I don’t think I’ve read a queer coming of age novel quite so lived in, so mushy and confused and goofy.

 I loved the approach of making Fay and Nell’s friendship so fully meshed as to take on a 2nd person POV. I also loved the flashback, past-tense format of this book. Often, I find books using a look-back approach or time jumps do so in order to hide plot or character issues, but Thomas was leveraging this tense to fully investigate faulty memories and how characters can experience the same situation so differently. (Also the act of looking back at your high school self thinking about what would have been if you had made different friends or different choices, especially gay ones, feels SO relatable in an ouch kind of way)

I had a great time listening to this; the mood, the vibe, the plot that quickly spiraled out of control, and these endearing (and totally annoying! lol) characters came together to form an excellent whole.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Racism, Transphobia, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Moderate: Violence and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: War

duzzle's review

emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Thomas's writing was so disgustingly relatable. It shocked me how well he was able to articulate and dredge up feelings I hadn't thought about since my own teenage-queer-friend-obsession fraught with exploratory RPs, insomnia-inducing anxiety, and being a little SHIT. Idlewild does a wonderful job exploring the many different ways teens can be fucking awful, and I'm so here for it. Don't come expecting a fuzzy-feel-good story.

The only gripe I'd have is with a certain scarecrow-esque figure in the book who isn't really given much humanity (but at the same time, we all know a person like them, so I feel like the author knew what he was doing there).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Fatphobia

dystopia's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Biphobia, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Racism, Fatphobia, and Classism

Minor: War, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia