Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

4 reviews

mmwiseheart's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I struggled so much with this. I just couldn’t get used to the writing style. I appreciate the detailed description of things, but whenever there was dialog, it wasn’t in quotations or even separated into its own paragraph. It was just part of the regular text. I had to keep rereading parts of it to understand what was being said by a character and what was internal monologue. 

It was a little triggering for me because of some of the graphic description of violence and I wish I had known about it beforehand. I read this for a book group, but I may have chosen not to read it and just skip this one. If you are triggered by sexual assault and/or animal cruelty, you might want to skip this one. 

The subject matter was interesting and thought provoking. It’s a mostly contemporary story with fantasy elements mixed in. A boy has a special power in an otherwise ordinary world. The whole book is about him coming to terms with what this power means, as he also tries to determine where he fits in. There is a twist in the plot and then the book just ends. We are given some clues to be able to piece together what would have happened next. But it just ends with no clear resolution and no follow up on how any of the characters feel about it or how it affects their lives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Self harm and Vomit

indigosparrow's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, Infidelity, Self harm, and Pregnancy

anarchist_al's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Was not prepared for the amount of graphic descriptions of self harm and suicidal ideation. The main characters were interesting, and the magical realism element was a very cool idea but it fizzled out for me. The book felt like it was building up to something big and then it just sort of ended with a weird retelling of Matthew Shepard’s death. This book was about kids dealing with homophobia, but the majority of the book felt like the homophobic characters just spewing their beliefs. Even the main queer character voiced homophobic ideas about himself and other characters. This could have been something really great—the concept was all there—but it was mostly just triggering. It felt like something a homophobe protesting a pride event would say, given enough time to speak freely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

dreher's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, and Rape

Minor: Bullying and Self harm