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infinite_harness9030's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death, Excrement, Medical content, Blood, Gore, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Cursing
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Classism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
frogknitting's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I wanted to like this book so, so badly. It's a trans historical fiction, it's supposed to be in the style of Pale Fire, it's funny and academic, but none of these really worked in the text and, as such, didn't work for me. The main thing is that this book doesn't use theory as a way to drive a story, but a story as a way to explain theory. This could work, if the story was tight enough and enjoyable so the reader could really appreciate the theory. This is not that story — both of the stories were all over the place, and I never felt like any of the characters were very fleshed out. Jack is a trans swindler who loves having sex with childhood trauma — but what is he like? Is he funny or suave; is he challenged in any way with his worldview? Not really. Neither are any of the side characters. I wanted to like Bess so much, but she also had little outside of her backstory and relationship to Jack: no personality or character. I saw a reviewer say that the characters in this are more dolls to move around so that the plot can progress forward and then the theoretical discussions can continue, and I agree with that.
This book is also just very, very sexual. I'll admit I'm somewhat of a prude, but mentioning how good you are at having sex and how much you want to have sex every other page (not an exaggeration) is such a bore and an annoyance. The way that both Jack and Dr. Voth talked about women headed into the misogynistic, objectifying zone, and although I certainly don't think they needed anyone to finger-wag and say "This isn't good!! You need to stop this!" having both of your main characters approach women the same way without their views ever fluctuating is pretty grating.
There's also certainly something to be said about how every character of color exists only to support Jack and risk their lives for him, without any seeming reason. I think it's good that they didn't have any "oh the white character is learning to not be racist anymore :) isn't he great?" parts, but in refusing to flesh out the characters and give them personalities and deep backstories (aside from Bess), the book is still tokenizing them to an extent, at least in my opinion.
Oh, by the way — if you're squeamish around urine, do not read this book. There's a lot of discussion of urine, both sexual and medicinal.
I saw a lot of complaints about
I know throughout I kept referring to other reviews, but I basically had to make sure I wasn't the only one who was being driven absolutely crazy by this book. I think its publicity coasted a lot on "trans historical fiction! Academia and theory!" but it doesn't have much else (nor is the theory done well enough to feel like it's not a hobbling-together of different ideas).
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Dysphoria, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Deadnaming, Excrement, Murder, Abandonment, and Vomit
opossumble's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Slavery, Excrement, Drug use, Alcohol, Classism, Murder, Colonisation, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Vomit
ellenigrace's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Blood, Gore, Body horror, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Transphobia
slinkmalink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Vaguely knew about Wild (from horrible histories ofc) but I hadn't heard of jack Sheppard at all n I thought they conveyed a really vivid picture of crime/prison system in that era that was v interesting
Also a very different perspective on gender than u usually get which was interesting
Moderate: Transphobia and Racism
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content and Transphobia
Moderate: Racism, Medical content, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
- CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX is one of the strangest, most fascinating books I’ve ever read. I loved the structure, with the body of the book being the “lost manuscript” and the footnotes being the professor telling his story alongside the manuscript.
- There is so much going on here, I hardly know where to start. Everything from the historical erasure of trans people to the prison industrial complex is pinpointed and torn down in a frenzy.
- For me, things got a bit muddled at the end of the book, but overall this book is well worth the trip there. Do pay attention to those content warnings though, as it’s pretty grossly graphic throughout.
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Dysphoria, Excrement, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Murder, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Medical content, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Colonisation
readingtrees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Confinement, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Trafficking, Lesbophobia, and Slavery
julianship's review against another edition
- 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
That being said, the narrative of Jack Sheppard is well-done; Rosenberg nails a particular sort of 18th-century cadence (possibly anachronistic; I don't really care.) Jack's narration is as slippery as the thief himself, both poetic and crude. The end of the book is spectacular, and Bess's discussion of the Fens is lovely.
Even in print, though, I found myself wishing the footnotes weren't there at all - as much as I enjoy a metanarrative, I think there's enough metanarrative present in the "18th century" portion itself, which touches on environmental destruction, the carceral state, the new calcification of racial categories, and transgender lives and loves. I don't think the book actually needed our modern day Dr. Voth in order to make the narrative speak to the present; it does that just fine on its own without the frame narrative, and I ended up getting distracted trying to track the details of his near-future academic dystopia.
So, overall: great book, loved Jack and Bess, (shockingly for me) could have done without the frame!
Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Slavery, Xenophobia, Racism, Police brutality, and Medical content
ninjamuse's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, and Police brutality
Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Forced institutionalization