Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Flamer by Mike Curato

16 reviews

marypaz13's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

 This is my second time reading this.
The first time I read it (Sometime in 2023):
- Literally for the cover, it gave me Hunger Game vibes
- It was being contested in my state (Oklahoma, USA)
- I speed read it, but even then I didn't think of a reason for it to be contested

2nd read through:
- It was a bookclub book for my Banned Book Club
- Besides the obvious, I noticed a lot more this time around:
--> Mental health issues: Depression, Anxiety
--> Domestic Abuse
--> growing up too soon
--> societal/religious pressures
--> colors, well mainly read and orange

I don't understand how a book that represents realistic issues, realistic emotions, and realistic circumstances to be contested or banned. Is that not the goal of books? To be inclusive? To make one's story relatable to their audience? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Violence and Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse

bickie's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

Set in 1995, the main character, who is part Filipino, goes to Boy Scout camp (as he always does) the summer before starting high school, which he has decided to attend at the public school rather than stay at his Catholic school. Aiden is an altar boy who is kind and helps both his mom and his ~4-year-old twin siblings deal with the explosive temper of his dad. Aiden is also relentlessly bullied for having what other boys think are "gay" characteristics, which he reflects are his voice and his general lack of misogynism, such as talking about liking girls for their personality characteristics rather than their bodies. Aiden knows what gay is and knows he's not that (though he learns eventually that he probably is).

While there is a fair amount of crude language, cursing, and gross locker room-type behavior, this book would be great for any middle schooler boy who does not feel entirely comfortable with hyper- and toxic masculinity. 

MC decides, after impulsively kissing a male friend on the cheek (who moves out of their 2-person tent at Boy Scout camp), to slit his wrists in the non-denominational chapel at camp; he is stopped by the life-fire of his soul, which speaks to him. 

There is crude language, including curse words, primarily but not exclusively spoken by the bullies. A lot of it is homophobic, such as making innuendoes about hot dogs and buns. There is one scene where Aiden enters a tent where the boys are hanging out "taking care of business" and realizes that they are masturbating into a soda bottle one by one. If one of them doesn't contribute any "cum," he has to drink it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Fatphobia, Cursing, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying

Moderate: Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

hdunscombe's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Racism, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Violence, Body shaming, and Domestic abuse

chelsealeem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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: Racial slurs, Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm

demetrius_bennett's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

The story was amazing and I found the protagonist's experience very relatable. The characters felt very realistic, especially compared to other books portraying 14-year-old boys. However, the ending of the story felt very rushed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Hate crime, Sexual content, and Misogyny

Minor: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Sexual harassment

heatherchrisman's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

rhiannon814r's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

This was a good read! It was very slice-of-life, when I had expected it to be more plot-driven. The art was great and was perfect for telling the story. I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe I’ll be able to write a better review when I’m done SOBBING.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Self harm

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, and Outing

There was a happy ending (or at least a satisfying conclusion where nothing terrible winds up happening to the main character), but the book as a whole was heavy.

alisazhup's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Self harm, Outing, and Pedophilia

pich's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-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

2.75

(2.75 leaning towards 3 stars) 
i really liked the symbolism behind the fire, even if it was pretty simple. i think the story started to pick up more towards the middle, but i still liked it. the religious themes were definitely pretty relatable, for me at least.

obviously the scenes involving masturbation made me uncomfortable, but i’m glad they didn’t drag on for an unnecessarily long time. i would’ve liked for ted to have had another appearance, maybe with a letter of some sort delivered to Aiden.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Bullying, Cursing, and Homophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming and Racial slurs

spookieboogie'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Body shaming, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Racial slurs

Minor: Blood, Cursing, Self harm, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence