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shark67372's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Violence
Moderate: Suicide
prettycloud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder and Homophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Biphobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Violence, Gun violence, and Suicide
This is a noir book, so it fulfills the genre conventions of people getting beat up and shot at regularly (including getting murdered that way). Many of the characters are LGBT+, and they experience period-appropriate homophobic violence and threats to their livelihood. The narrator ends up in a hospital at one point, but no harm to her body or agency takes place there. The narrator's mentor has multiple sclerosis but works in spite of it.exra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Homophobia
Moderate: Gun violence and Hate crime
Minor: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
sapphicfog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Hate crime and Domestic abuse
Minor: Homophobia
stubbornjerk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book did that, with Detective Willowjean Parker assisting Detective Lillian Pentecost on the case of Abigail Collins' murder. It covered topics like violence against women, homophobia during the 50s, poverty, and a lot more. It's not a hard book to read, but definitely not for the faint of heart.
It was definitely worth the read. Not as pulpy as I thought it'd be, but definitely a little cartoonish on some fronts. I mean, c'mon, a traveling ex-carnie bisexual detective? Think about it.
Though, I do think more thought put towards POC could have been considered, since this tackled a lot of things that touches on the lives of POC at the time. I pointed this out in my notes but I'm pretty sure that at the time the case is set in, Japanese people were in internment camps and the most we get of mentions of non-White American goings-on was mostly to point out that this was post-World War II.
I would have hated seeing anything mishandled, but to say that these things weren't relevant during the time this was set in, especially in a city like New York, it will have been impossible to miss it even in passing. I was reading along to the audiobook (Kirsten Potter's reading was fantastic despite minor hiccups), so I'm pretty sure I didn't miss any indicators that any of the cast of characters were POC. Almost all of them were some shade of white, though I'd love to imagine that Graham Hollis wasn't.
Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, Child abuse, Violence, Murder, Death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Antisemitism and Homophobia
dearhi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Minor: Chronic illness and Homophobia
ege's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder and Homophobia
waterlilyreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
qwerty88's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Murder, and Terminal illness
bsteve24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death
Minor: Chronic illness, Homophobia, and Suicide