Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn

43 reviews

youmns's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No
"Any Man" should come with one giant blinking red trigger warning.

Some parts read like spoken word poetry. Some are simply fiction. Almost all of it is horror, though I imagine it's well-researched and true horror. The sexual assaults are described with simultaneously less and more detail than needed to get their point across. The way people respond to the victims is horrifying. The way we alienate and vilify victims and survivors of sexual assault is horrifying.

I'm not quite sure how to rate this book, so I won't.

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nikki3's review against another edition

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

3.75


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2busyreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.25


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myotinae's review against another edition

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

5.0


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ghost_rider's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Sickening, but the audio version is great and immersive. 

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.5

READ TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS
this was a great read (not necessarily because of the story since it discusses r*p* and s*x*u*l a*s*u*t, but the way it was told). It's multiple pov and can get pretty graphic. I wish we got a little bit of expansion on Michael and Sebastian as they were the victims we got the least amount of time with. I also didn't love the ending, but it was wrapped up nicely enough for me with how the victims coped and tried to heal.

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aaliyahmaybe's review against another edition

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

4.25


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ellebosco's review

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4.0


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snerp_reads's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

Firstly, the prose in this book is absolutely beautiful, and really makes me want to look into Tamblyn's other works. While yes, it is very poetic at times, there are very clear distinctions between the voices of the main characters, both in speech patterns and personality. If I was basing my review based off quality of prose alone, this book would be a solid 5 stars.
I was a little unsure going into this book because of the framing of the perpetrator; expecting her story to follow the archetypal 'Stranger Danger' plotline so often used in stories of sexual assault, despite only making up a fraction of the actual crimes. However, I think Tamblyn utilized this archetype very well, and was actually beneficial when reading the survivors' stories as both personal accounts, and as an exploration of the larger culture around these topics. 
My main critiques are of the character Michael, and of the ending. I disliked that the only trans male character was the only victim to entirely lack a voice of his own; we only got to learn about him through social media posts (largely targeted at him through transphobia). While I was very hopeful to see a trans man being represented in a book about sexual assualt, I feel his story was the least fleshed out of all of them. This was especially disappointing considering that trans men have the highest rates of sexual violence against them, even compared to cis women. Giving a voice to a trans male character would've greatly benefited both the story, and the readers, especially compared to how long was spent giving a voice to an extremely misogynistic cis gay man instead. 
The ending was slightly confusing, and I feel it flew over my head, which is my only critique of it.

Overall, a very well written book, diverse cast, but does fail to equally represent certain minorities portrayed.

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americattt's review against another edition

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

4.5

“I am in a body. It is not the one I came here with, but it is the one I’ll leave here in. I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My pain, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My heart, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now. My story, I will take care of it. It belongs to me now."

Highly recommend the audiobook version of this, with a full cast that made everything feel so much more real. A very difficult read that made me feel sick to my stomach a few times, but I think the core material/message is important. 

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