Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

13 reviews

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

macknificent's review

dark emotional sad slow-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

I respect this book, I understand its importance, but I did not enjoy it. 

Took off a quarter star because the book is described as sex positive when it really isn't. There was A LOT of talk about penises and laying in semen, but a lot of it was presented as something that caused the MC pain/shame. Sex neutral seems a better descriptor, though still not quite right. 

Anyway, I think this is an important read that I never want to read again. Ranks right up there with Freshwater and Split Tooth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Death, Classism, Drug use, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Pregnancy

tenderbench's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Pregnancy

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Cursing, Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy

journey2's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

Jonny Appleseed is the story of an indigiqueer 2 spirit (self proclaimed NDN glitter princess), Canadian living in Winnipeg. 

This is the story of Jonny, who has left the rez he grew up on and is now living in Winnipeg. He's working as a cyber sex worker and getting by digital date by digital date, becoming whoever it is that his clients need. 

Jonny is faced with having to return to the rez for his stepfather's funeral. In the week before he heads home he is lost in recollections of the past. Of his mother, of his kokum, and of his on again off again lover since they were preteens. His lover who's not gay. Never. He just likes to be close to Jonny. 
 Jonny visits with him and his girlfriend, both of whom he loves very dearly. 

This book is sad, beautiful, romantic, and heartbreaking on many levels. It deals with love and loss and pain and suffering and discrimination and the mundaneity of life. 

It also deals with family and love and connection and heart. I listened to this on audiobook and I was completely enraptured. It made me think and it made me cry. If you're looking for a sad but beautiful story that will make you very introspective and touch your heart, than this is definitely the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Death, Racism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Reference to residential schools and their lasting impact on survivors

lexa's review

dark emotional sad

4.75

Wow. What a book. I had to keep reminding myself while listening that this is a novel, because it felt like a memoir. Joshua Whitehead did a fantastic job of bringing Jonny to life. My only complaint was that sometimes the timeframe bounced around a bit, and took me a while to figure out in the audio format.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, Racism, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Alcoholism, and Drug use

Minor: Infidelity and Pregnancy

nkmustdie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, Cultural appropriation, Transphobia, Vomit, Grief, Child abuse, Body shaming, Blood, Animal death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Dysphoria, Cursing, Classism, Racism, Bullying, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and Chronic illness

criticalgayze's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

At the risk of being explicit, Queer millennial writers are the shit. (Side Note: If that little bit of cursing was too much for you, do not pick up this book - see my trigger warnings.) While I am late to the Whitehead party, he has joined the ranks of Emezi, Taylor, and Purnell in writers who are revolutionizing form, storytelling, and identity in a way that is going to have a major impact on literature from here on, and it is no wonder when reading works like this that power structures are so terrified of Queers.

From the opening scene-setting of sneaking Queer as Folk in the bedroom as a child, Whitehead creates a sense of the Queer kid who is exposed early to what it means to understand yourself as a sexual being. In that way, I felt myself immediately seen on the pages. While being a mere (but learning) spectator in his specific experience as a Queer person of Indigenous heritage, I also felt incredibly in tune with his experience of impoverished matriarchal and tight-knit extended family dynamics.

Having read Dear Senthuran and Jonny Appleseed, two Queer books steeped in culturally specific spirituality, Baldwin's refrain strikes me all the more that we white people have truly done terrible harm, not just to the marginalized peoples that were subjugated and expelled and murdered, but to ourselves through colonialism. This lack of access to a deeper spiritual identity that we white people suffer from leads us to a toxic sense of personal restlessness that makes us a danger to ourselves.

This was just such an extremely powerful book that I am thankful the Canadian book gatekeepers had the good sense to prioritize.

Quotes:
And I always got a tickle out of how you could anthropomorphize yourself within the gay animal kingdom: "bear," otter," "wolf," "fox," "cubs." If only these gays knew how powerful Mistahimaskwa could really be. (18)
I thought for a second, then accepted it: I added "canine" to the list of entities I could morph into and started charging an extra few bucks per session. (25)
Like the leech, I too felt like a hermaphrodite: part boy, part girl, and always needed by hunters and fishermen. And I always left a red mark on their bodies somewhere, as if to say: I was here./
Plus, leeches are medicine, didn't you know? (81)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Grief, Racism, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Pregnancy

ce_read's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Racism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death, Bullying, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, and Pregnancy

There's a scene involving a belly button that I can think would really wig some people out

marrireadsandrambles's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, and Death

Minor: Drug use and Pregnancy

Two spirit representation (by a Two spirit author), narrator is a sex worker