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libscote's review
3.0
I didn't quite know how to feel about this one. It's a lot--it's pretty bleak, with lots of horrible things happening to people. I've read other bleak books this year, so I'm wondering if it's a trend or just my reading habits. I feel like one thing I need to remind myself of with this book is what the world was like in 2002 compared to today with trans issues. Not that today is any utopia, but even I have to admit my views were different then than now. I don't know. I feel like I need to sit with this one for a while.
abbyd's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Murder
anthama's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
legalplanner's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.5
This book was not at all what I suspected. It was a slower read than I was prepared for as well as not what the synopsis sounded like.
Dani’s gender and gender identity play a major roll in this book and while the synopsis says Dani is trans but it was a large focus of the novel. While dealing with and experiencing ghosts, the main premise definitely felt like the bigger picture was self love, acceptance, and knowing when to tell others about wrong doings.
The abuse was not always deeply described. But it was hard to know something happened.
This was a slower read for me and the last 30 pages were probably the best for me and where I finally found I powered through the novel.
The abuse was not always deeply described. But it was hard to know something happened.
This was a slower read for me and the last 30 pages were probably the best for me and where I finally found I powered through the novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming and Homophobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Suicide
sparkythecat's review
3.0
My copy is an ARC not received for a review
You know this was going pretty good until it was ruined by the worst trope in existence. The character who isn't interested in dating and says so, finally "matures" and has a relationship "upgrade" from friends to romantic. It happened right at the very end too!
It could have been an amazing book about friendship and figuring out a non toxic friendship after so long of just having Sarah but instead they opted for an unnecessary and underdeveloped romantic twist at the very end as if romance is some kind of reward for making it that far.
It could have been a good story about being a gay trans man too if it had gone that direction earlier but it wasn't addressed at all until literally the final pages, and Dani had even said he didn't like boys and he didn't think he liked anyone romantically. That screams aromantic which also could have been an amazing development if it had been addressed more.
I think Dani's orientation and relationships could have been shown a lot better if the book had taken one path and focused on developing it instead of taking several paths and making a jumbled mess.
You know this was going pretty good until it was ruined by the worst trope in existence. The character who isn't interested in dating and says so, finally "matures" and has a relationship "upgrade" from friends to romantic. It happened right at the very end too!
It could have been an amazing book about friendship and figuring out a non toxic friendship after so long of just having Sarah but instead they opted for an unnecessary and underdeveloped romantic twist at the very end as if romance is some kind of reward for making it that far.
It could have been a good story about being a gay trans man too if it had gone that direction earlier but it wasn't addressed at all until literally the final pages, and Dani had even said he didn't like boys and he didn't think he liked anyone romantically. That screams aromantic which also could have been an amazing development if it had been addressed more.
I think Dani's orientation and relationships could have been shown a lot better if the book had taken one path and focused on developing it instead of taking several paths and making a jumbled mess.
elianamor's review against another edition
5.0
Words cannot describe how much I loved this book. I absolutely adored Dani and his internal thoughts and how he interacted with people. We see his journey with other people and interacting with them. I loved his mother/son relationship with Patricia and how accepting and loving she was towards him. I also loved how he and Seiji interacted and how their relationship was so platonic until the end, which was something I found amazing. Dani found himself a friend, a queer friend, way before a romantic relationship, and that really showed the importance of platonic relationships. I also really enjoyed Dani working through Sarah's TERF ideas, and how he grapples with the fact that not all men are bad, and while it's fine to not trust any man immediately, being a man and forming important relationships with men isn't terrible. I thought that it was amazing for Dani to go through since I had also had struggled with TERF rhetoric and realized that it is perfectly acceptable to not be a woman and to desire relationships with people who aren't women. I thought this book was incredibly powerful and amazing, and I'm so glad I got the arc for this book.
miniaturephilosopher's review
5.0
I'm a huge fan of Leah Thomas (and will never be over the third book of the Because You'll Never Meet Me series not getting published) so I read everything she writes. Leah has explored trauma in her books before, but I would say this is more intense. It's very interesting to see how different people (ghost people, mostly) react to violent trauma, and how their recoveries takes such different paths. I love the exploration of a toxic friendship. It reminded me so much of a few friendships I had in my youth. Sometimes people grow and change and get better and it doesn't mean the friendship will become healthy. Sometimes it just means you grow out of the friendship. I wish I had more interesting things to say about this book, but I will just say that it was very good and I recommend it, but suggest reading with caution because of the heavy topics that are explored.
legs_mcgee's review
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for a review!
This is a book that I would only recommend with heavy content warnings, and an offer for continued conversation/dialogue. Mind you, I would definitely recommend it to some readers, but not without a heads up on the amount of violence in this book! Reading this reminded me of my first time reading SPEAK in middle school–incredibly important, moving, and utterly devastating. There are moments of fun, of lightheartedness, but woof. This is a heavy read!
It's been interesting to see other readers focus so much on this being a trans story – being trans is important to Dani, it shapes his relationships, but this is not a story about self-discovery of gender. I really appreciated how well Thomas writes about gender and about the adolescent stumbling blocks of figuring your stuff out while the world feels like it's falling apart. Additionally, this is the first time in a long while I've read a book with an unhealthy friendship wherein the characters... acknowledge that their relationship is toxic! I can't imagine what this book would have meant to me if I had been able to read it in high school.
This book is going to stick with me for a long time, in large part because of how mundane the violence is throughout. Don't mistake this for saying that VIOLET GHOSTS doesn't give abuse and assault weight and understand its affect on people; rather, Thomas manages to capture the sense of being a young person who has grown up surrounded by violence, has learned that most people can't be trusted... and still wants to try and find honest and restorative connection in the world.
I would definitely hesitate to recommend this book to a younger YA reader (even though, as I opened with, I read SPEAK and other similar books at a very young age!), but I would strongly recommend this book to teachers, to people who interact with kids on the edge of their teenage years, and to teens who have an understanding of how bleak this world can be.
This is a book that I would only recommend with heavy content warnings, and an offer for continued conversation/dialogue. Mind you, I would definitely recommend it to some readers, but not without a heads up on the amount of violence in this book! Reading this reminded me of my first time reading SPEAK in middle school–incredibly important, moving, and utterly devastating. There are moments of fun, of lightheartedness, but woof. This is a heavy read!
It's been interesting to see other readers focus so much on this being a trans story – being trans is important to Dani, it shapes his relationships, but this is not a story about self-discovery of gender. I really appreciated how well Thomas writes about gender and about the adolescent stumbling blocks of figuring your stuff out while the world feels like it's falling apart. Additionally, this is the first time in a long while I've read a book with an unhealthy friendship wherein the characters... acknowledge that their relationship is toxic! I can't imagine what this book would have meant to me if I had been able to read it in high school.
This book is going to stick with me for a long time, in large part because of how mundane the violence is throughout. Don't mistake this for saying that VIOLET GHOSTS doesn't give abuse and assault weight and understand its affect on people; rather, Thomas manages to capture the sense of being a young person who has grown up surrounded by violence, has learned that most people can't be trusted... and still wants to try and find honest and restorative connection in the world.
I would definitely hesitate to recommend this book to a younger YA reader (even though, as I opened with, I read SPEAK and other similar books at a very young age!), but I would strongly recommend this book to teachers, to people who interact with kids on the edge of their teenage years, and to teens who have an understanding of how bleak this world can be.