Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

10 reviews

ziggyreadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I am floored by this book. Easily one of the most interesting things I’ve read in a while. It’s messy and convoluted in the best way. I will come back and make a more in depth review, but you NEED to read this book.

RETURN: This book was fantastic. It is definitely not for everyone — I like books that are ambiguous and esoteric, but if you don’t like things being like that, you won’t enjoy this book.

I feel like a big theme of this book is liminality, which I don’t often see in books. The characters, but especially Gala, exist in the margins of their world, not moving forwards or backwards — I think this is really poignant when it comes to existing as a trans person. B——‘s/Diane’s story progresses more than Gala’s, but they ultimately end up back in that in between space. I loved it.

The writing is STUNNING. It always lingers on things you wouldn’t expect it to and skips over what you would think is important, which is really interesting. The passive characters are primarily characterized by how they observe things, which is so sophisticated and novel. 

I read another review here that said that Gala sort of got “lost in the mix” between her and Diane’s narratives, which I agree with. I wish they had been allotted equal (or more equal) time, but I really enjoyed Diane’s narrative, so I wasn’t too bothered by it.

Abuse is also a big theme in the book. Its effects psychologically are explored really well through Diane, and by extent, Gala. But fair warning, emotional abuse and manipulation are very present in the early Diane chapters.

I liked how the two stories didn’t interact much, leaving the reader to try to understand how they connect. There’s a lot left unsaid in this book, and I think it strengthens the work.

I honestly wish this book had been longer. I wanted to stay in this strange, surreal middle place with these characters.

I wanted to highlight the chapter where Diane first tries marijuana with Harry’s wife. I thought it was really excellent and super surreal, and I think it encapsulates what I loved about the book.

This isn’t exactly a pick-up-and-put-down kind of book, but if you give it the time and space it deserves, it is a really rewarding reading experience.

I can’t wait to see what Jeanne Thornton writes next! (An aside — I reached out to her on Instagram to tell her I loved the book, and she was really wonderful. Thank you, Jeanne!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Transphobia and Drug use

meowzersnap's review against another edition

I found the sections related to “B” very boring, even though I found Gala’s story to be the most interesting parts. However, her story would only take up half of the book length, maybe less.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Physical abuse

ccccamden's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Transphobia, Blood, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Mental illness, Animal death, Deadnaming, and Domestic abuse

bleepbloop's review

sad

3.25

weird and sad. it would be fun if Brian Wilson were trans.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Transphobia

amissabellator's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Outing, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Grief, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Hate crime

Moderate: Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death of parent, Biphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Classism, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Vomit, Death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and War

popcornreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Dysphoria

ka_cam's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

This was a strange read- surreal fever dream vibes. The letter format was both compelling and also a bit confusing (how much access does Gala have to B—-/Diane’s interiority and how does she have it? Is any of this real? Dark magic? Fantasy/FanFic? Break with consensus reality? ). Midway through I totally lost steam on it and had a hard time staying engaged to the finish, but that could have been my own life stressors getting in the way. Some of the characters just petered out- which wasn’t satisfying but did make it feel more like a fanfic infused diary for Gala. A funky and at times heartfelt wander in some deserts of time and space and identity and family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Self harm, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol and Domestic abuse

scam_lark's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Dysphoria, and Hate crime

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Drug abuse

tinyfrogwizard's review against another edition

5.0

The more I think about this book the more I find things to appreciate about it. I love the parallel stories and how they thematically reach such similar resolutions, yet written in a way that when one thread resolved I was still suprised by the ending of the other. The narrator and other characters are given the space to breathe and be messy in ways true to life, and at a few points I found myself trying to google The Get Happies to find some wiki to see how they ended up before I got to the next parts in the book. Genuinely looking forward to what Jeanne Thornton will write next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Transphobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Drug use, Dysphoria, and Emotional abuse

ninjamuse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton is a great book and very powerful. It’s finely crafted, expansive yet taut, and, well, the sheer amount of character, theme, and history that Thornton managed to hold in her head while writing and then convey on the page is incredible. A lesser author couldn’t have done it. And the emotions she makes the reader feel? The way she writes hope and pain and loneliness? The things she forces the reader to consider, and the ways she does that? Equally impressive!

It’s not a book for everyone, though, and if I’d known how affecting it would be, I’d have picked a different time to read it because there’s definitely a certain headspace required and I didn’t quite have it. Basically, Thornton does not sugarcoat the lives of trans women, either in the past or the present, and she presses those realities on her readers. There’s abuse and trans-misogyny and substance abuse, for instance, and several trans characters are working through (what I read as) internalized trans-misogyny as well. The prose is also dense and dark, and Thornton doesn’t hold readers’ hands through it or her messages. You have to pay attention to this book and you can’t expect easy answers.

The plot, you ask? An elevator pitch might be, “A trans woman in New Mexico writes letters to her favourite musician”, but that compresses so much. For one thing, the lines blur quickly. How much of the detail of the musician’s life is true, and how much is fannish re-creation? How much does the writer’s outlook colour everything? What is the goal of the letters? Really, Summer Fun is about hope and loss and longing, about finding yourself and learning to be comfortable in your skin, and about connection and the power of music and the many ways trans women live in the world.

It’s a great book, as I said. It stirs emotions and asks hard questions. Thornton’s won Lambdas and it’s easy to see why. It’s powerful and vivid and affecting, a worthy book for any queer-positive TBR. It is not the breezy summer read I expected (my bad there), but I’m very glad to have read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Transphobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Dysphoria

Minor: Car accident