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readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Death, Hate crime, Genocide, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality
Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Transphobia
maeverose's review against another edition
The writing is beautiful but yet again, I don’t understand it. I tried to keep reading because it’s short but I’m really not getting much from it and I feel dumb so… dnfing unfortunately.
Here are some quotes that I liked though:
“In the museum of political depression, in its tidied halls, books of the sort I want to write are banned, for they are against the world that birthed the writer. Books that emerge from a banned way of thinking, that pry open space to live otherwise in an uninhabitable world, lie open in hospitals and university dorms and community libraries but rarely in an institution governed by a pessimism of the future and a romance of the present.”
Here are some quotes that I liked though:
“In the museum of political depression, in its tidied halls, books of the sort I want to write are banned, for they are against the world that birthed the writer. Books that emerge from a banned way of thinking, that pry open space to live otherwise in an uninhabitable world, lie open in hospitals and university dorms and community libraries but rarely in an institution governed by a pessimism of the future and a romance of the present.”
“Loneliness is a kind of dysphoria with the world.”
“I have a phobia of the police. How could I trust he who disavowed personhood to instead be a gun? He who is bullets rather than an organism capable of nurturance? To be a gun is to be against life. I want to be for life and to be against that which is against life.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Colonisation, Murder, Racism, and Police brutality
Minor: Homophobia and Infidelity
offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
2.75
I am hesitant to assign a number value to this book or even to leave a review, because I suspect that my experience is more reflective of my reading level than the actual quality of the book. I found the prose challenging and had to reread some passages several times but still couldn’t grasp the meaning. Nonetheless, the book was beautiful and lovely at times and very painful at others, and, as a Queer, disabled person, I am glad I read it. I found that listening to the audiobook helped me follow a bit better. One of my favourite quotes from the book:
“if I try to compose anything but sad poems, I fear it’ll be akin to a widower trying to convince others that he has found happiness again by wearing a T-shirt that says HAPPINESS” (p. 94)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Racism
Moderate: Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Infidelity and Medical trauma
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