Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

7 reviews

schlady's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A realistic portrayal of a year in the life of an imperfect family living through even less perfect circumstances. Very strong writing in the senses of family & place in New Mexico, also well narrated as an audiobook. The main characters were overall likable even after making difficult, frustrating, unlikable choices; I really felt for all of them as their stories twisted and turned and intertwined.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Sexual content, Child abuse, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Blood, Medical content, Alcoholism, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Rape, Classism, Racism, Abortion, Drug use, and Drug abuse

annahelle's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.0

this is such a solid book! really glad i read it. the author did an amazing job at expressing the characters’ thoughts, insecurities, flaws, behaviors, etc. she was really good at describing facial expressions and body language too. just a great job exploring the interior lives of this family. i really felt like i knew the characters and their thought processes. great character development. definitely a character > plot narrative, but the story was still entertaining and devastating and emotional too. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Dementia, Death of parent, Cancer, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Sexism, and Self harm

Minor: Blood, Incest, Lesbophobia, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Car accident, and Child death

ashwaar's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

4.25

 This is death, then: a brief spot of light on earth extinguished, a rippling point of energy swept clear. A kiss, a song, the warm circle of a stranger’s arms—these things and others—the whole crush of memory and hope, the constant babble of the mind, everything that composes a person—gone.

As in the above quote, the writing in The Five Wounds is absolutely beautiful. Our story follows the Padilla family in the remote, forgotten town of Las Penas in New Mexico. Amadeo has been chosen to play the crucified Jesus in the annual Good Friday procession when his mother, Yolanda, receives an unexpected medical diagnosis, and his 15-year-old pregnant daughter, Angel, turns up on his doorstep after a fight with her mother. Despite the challenging circumstances and questionable decisions, the new infant brings several generations together and pushes them to re-evaluate their choices, identities and importance to those closest to them.

The story tells the harsh reality of living in a small, dwindling community in America that nobody seems to care about and what happens to the people who grow up in these places and the futures they’re told they can never have. There are some really strong commentaries on the problems afflicting these small communities, and I have provided trigger warnings below, but it can make it a little harrowing to read at times.

I want to be clear that all the characters are deeply flawed and really quite unlikeable. They make mistakes, don’t take responsibility, run away from their problems and get caught up in fantasies without thinking about reality. But you still root for them far more than the people or challenges they come up against. You keep wanting them to do better, even if you sometimes have to put the book down out of sheer frustration that they’re making terrible choices.. again…

In addition, some characters are a bit over the top, like Angel’s teacher, Brianna, who cannot get over the fact that she’s a virgin and feels inferior in educating these young women on childbirth and parenthood. Lizette can also be written a little over the top at times, and it feels a bit exploitative to the reader.

However, the writing is beautiful, and the family are messed up and broken but slowly putting themselves back together and creating something that isn’t perfect but is theirs, and that's really admirable. It’s a bit on the long side, and I found it faltered in pace at some points, but overall, it's a really strong, challenging, character-focused read.

Rating: 4.25/5

Recommendations: Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González, Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson, Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Trigger Warnings: addiction, alcoholism, cancer, car accident, death, domestic abuse, grief, medical content, pregnancy, rape, self harm, sexual assault, terminal illness 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Car accident, and Cancer

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Medical content, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Self harm, Rape, and Sexual assault

abbie_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

Stunning, a new favourite for sure. A must read if you’re a fan of generational stories. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Car accident, Cancer, Vomit, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Lesbophobia, Rape, and Self harm

internationalreads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape and Incest

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

ashvini's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

The Five Wounds is truly a character-driven work of literary fiction.

It follows the Padilla family in the deprived town of Española in New Mexico, at the start of Holy Week. Armadeo is an unemployed thirty-two-year-old who finds purpose and a sense of rebirth in his newly-appointed role of Jesus in the local Church's passion play. He's self-centred and oblivious to the daily needs of his mom and daughter. Yolanda, the matriarch, has just received fatal and life-changing news. Angel, sixteen years old and pregnant, has just fled her mother's home and is grappling with her stepfather's abuse, the lack of dependable adults in her life, and planning for her future.

Over the course of the story, we are fully immersed into these characters' lives; not only with regards to their socio-economic conditions (poverty, unemployment, teen pregnancy, alcoholism etc), but also with their character quips (interests, desires, longings, and heartaches).

For me, this book inspired a lot of thought about our universal need for attention, what it means to fail and how hard it can be to overcome our circumstances.

There's a lot to unpack here and I think I would benefit from a second reading. That said, I did find that at times this book felt long and slower-paced than I usually prefer. It took a long time for all the details that were being woven together to finally click into a comprehensive pattern.

Nonetheless, the place I was transported to while reading this book and the characters I encountered is a journey I'll be thinking about for a long time.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Grief, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Terminal illness