Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

7 reviews

jaysaysnope's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Oh, Jonny. I’ve heard other Black people in the diaspora talking about how when they see videos of Māori people doing the haka, they get immediately emotional. Something about seeing an Indigenous people engaging in an ancient practice from their culture, something something slavery and loss of connection to our own cultures. That’s kind of how Jonny makes me feel. The spectre of white supremacy has carved the queerness out of so many of our histories. Reading this when West African countries are codifying homophobia into law, when rates of transphobic violence against teenagers are rising, when Nex Benedict’s death is ruled a suicide… this book made me cry and it made me yearn and it made me laugh. I want ten more books about this NDN princess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Pedophilia and Suicidal thoughts

djbobthegirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Addiction, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body shaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Outing, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Cancer, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Excrement, and Infidelity

fuguefire's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

A fantastic story, I can't wait to read more from Joshua Whitehead. Easily one of the best books I've read so far this year, Whitehead has an incredible aptitude for description and implication, a gift I feel lucky to find applied towards an indigenous genderqueer narrative. 
A note to fellow queer readers: this book made me feel uncomfortable in a way that only queer lit can. Some scenes felt like the characters were looking me in my eyes and speaking my name. I have rarely felt as much of a kinship with a book as I did with this one, and I'm honestly not sure if that's a good thing. 
Regardless, it makes for a good argument in favor of this book and Whitehead's ability as an author. I look forward to reading more from them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Vomit, Transphobia, Mental illness, Body shaming, and Racism

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Gore, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, Excrement, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Death, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Homophobia, and Chronic illness

Minor: Slavery and Fire/Fire injury

Absent parent, prostitution, f slur, residential schools, MMIWG2S, injured animal, broken bones, mention of lynching, e slur, child birth death, overdose,

peachani's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, and Pedophilia

maekay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

Intense and nihilistic story about realities of modern Indigenous and Two Spirited life. The writing is amazing, the author balances dichotomies perfectly: it's disgustingly beautiful, violently touching, and ambiguously insightful. Not for the faint of heart, there is a lot of pain in this novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Child abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Animal cruelty

brenticus's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.0

I think this is a brilliant book in a lot of ways. If you're in doubt about the relevance of intersectionality, this book puts it front and center. Jonny is an indigenous person from Peguis, Manitoba who has to grapple with the complexities of being two-spirited in a society that has all but had the concept beaten out of them by generations of cultural genocide. He deals with indigenous problems, gay problems, women's problems, men's problems, and some that are pretty much just Jonny. 

The timeline of this book is chaotic; we primarily follow Jonny around as he tries to get enough money to return to the rez for his step-father's funeral, but each short chapter jumps around to discuss different points in Jonny's life as he grapples with his identity. Jonny's role in his family and community is complex and clearly something different from the Western delineation of gender roles. He associates strongly with the women in his life and often finds himself rejected by the men, being accepted by them only for specific purposes. In Jonny's case, that purpose is usually sex. 

Why only four stars with all this praise? Well, the book juggles a lot of issues but by the end a lot of the balls still feel like they're in the air or dropped to the ground unsatisfactorily. That's not to say the ending is bad; on the contrary, I think it's beautiful. But there are just some aspects of Tias's life, his relationship with Jonny, and Jonny's relationships with Roger and Jordan and his mother that feel a bit too fuzzy for my liking. 

In the back of the book the author says that he wrote this to affirm that two-spirit people are not a thing of the past, that they're a part of society and not going anywhere, and I think that really should have been at the front of the book. This is a relatively short book with a lot to unpack, but at the very least that blurb at the back shows that the author hit his intended purpose perfectly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, and Pedophilia