Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Pluralities by Avi Silver

1 review

minervacerridwen's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Wow. This book! 
In my experience, it can be very difficult to put the experience of being trans, or nonbinary, or genderfluid, into words. But Pluralities does a magically good job of it, with an honesty and openness and beauty I admire greatly. 
From the very first pages, the writing awed me. Avi Silver clearly understands stylistic choices as a means of storytelling and has applied them seamlessly—I will definitely look up their poetry. In fact, this novella often felt like poetry itself, in the way that it deeply touched my core beyond what "regular" prose would do. Of course, this is also because the trans theme is so close to my heart. Pluralities made me feel understood and had several moments that made me go "oh, so I'm not the only one"…even now. 
There was so much I loved, so I’ll attempt a short list: I adored how the concept of small talk was presented as a painful betting game, the aromantic representation (I don’t think it’s ever said outright, but I definitely interpreted it that way as an aro reader), the characters in general, and the scene that showed how an accepting conversation with a supportive person can still spike gender anxiety, simply because the conversational partner has not had experiences that could make them understand. It’s a quick read, but the altering perspective does give you the opportunity to process, so it doesn’t feel rushed in any way. 
 
If you want to connect with transgender experiences, either for yourself, for people you love, or to simply understand the world a little better, I would highly recommend this novella. 
 
Full disclosure: I was a proofreader for this book. 
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