Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Blackouts: A Novel by Justin Torres

12 reviews

knkoch's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had a tough time with this one. I liked the multimedia presentation (a combination of prose, poetry, and images), especially the 'found' poems created through blacking out medical/psychological profiles of the various interview subjects of the 'sexual variants' study reproduced throughout. I interpreted this book as a genre-bending mix of fiction/nonfiction. Confusion about how much came from real life/people and how much was fiction seemed intentional, a commentary on the literal marginalization of LGBT+ folks surviving and creating culture/community amidst forced institutionalization, legal persecution, and severe societal repression. Obfuscation of reality was (is) necessary to leave space for survival because mainstream forces would and have sought to annihilate LGBT+ narratives, people, and culture wherever they are uncovered.

The recounting of several characters' particular experiences as queer Puerto Rican men added interesting and specific layers to the story. I struggled at times to keep hold of the narrative thread; for example, I had a hard time keeping track of the personal history distinctions between Juan and the unnamed (?) younger man visiting him. Not the best fit for me, but justifiably this was not written for me, either, so I tried to take in as much as I could from it, considering my limited perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Sexual content

ka_cam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad fast-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

5.0

A meditative, reflective, moody and sometimes playful genre-blending history/memoir/hagiography/scrapbook/and more following a young gay man as he accompanies an elder gay man is dying. From different generations both share Puerto Rican heritage and a brief overlapping stay at a psych facility. Weaves oral, written, visual archives with an interpersonal relationship and personal reflections in a way I found compelling and thought provoking, also learned some queer history. Loved the ruminations on the very porous boundaries between ‘reality’ and memory, archives, history, psychology, and storytelling. The power of being recorded and excercising power over what is recorded and what is erased- challenging binaries of known/unknown and truth/fiction. Encourages the reader to recognize and appreciate the past, the ways it is present, our received and constructed narratives or lenses, and the ways we can leave space for what we we never truly know about the past and those who live/d in it. Some of the thoughts can come off a bit trite, and I can see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

takecoverbooksptbo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

A mixture of Calvino's polyphonous Invisible Cities, Mendelsohn's myserious memoir of queer New York The Elusive Embrace, and the touching diasporic dissonance Noor Naga's autofiction If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, Justin Torres' Blackouts is a multifaceted love story.

There are so many different types of love explored in the novel: friendship, romance, familial love, carnality, love of art, romanticization of the past, care work, among many others. While it's not a clear-eyed novel whose beginning-middle-end structure is immediately satisfying, the miasmal atmosphere and haunting presences of the book resonate far beyond its conclusion.

In a way, Torres gives us a ghost story, but, in another way, Blackouts could be considered a truthful synopsis of our mediated existence. A novel of ideas, it asks, what is biographical or personal truth when it can only ever be revealed through the cleaning-up process of storytelling? Is the past meaningless in the face of an inexhaustible present? Or, alternatively, is the past the only thing that can bestow meaning, given that our personhood can only be defined by the collage of memory and documentation that exists to tell us who we are? Torres doesn't embark on the journey to answer these questions, but to get the reader to think about them, to meditate upon our fragile bodies in relation to the deep time of our actions.

Blackouts is a remarkable book, but it's certainly not for everyone. At times, its elliptical structure gets in the way of the story being told, and the characters floating through the narrative seem too vaporous to picture without the substantial archival material bound up with the text. Having said that, I think most who pick it up will find something to love.      

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Mental illness

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a really interesting book, a sort of auto-fiction/historical fiction combination about telling stories and being interpreted and pathologized. I liked it a lot.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, and Racism

Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

finnc's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-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

Black Outs is incredibly creative, subversive, relevant, and in a league of its own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Homophobia

bella_ruth's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Homophobia, Death, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jessthanthree's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, Dementia, Homophobia, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Violence, Abandonment, Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, War, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

drowsyowl's review against another edition

It just didn't seem like it was ever going to have a real plot. I imagine it was only going to end up being a fake biography of a homosexual man which gives historical context of the gay experience. I'm sure the remainder of the narrative is interesting and heartbreaking and eye opening - I found the first 1/5 to be so. But it's not really what I consider a fictional plot, nor did the storytelling compel me to want more. It was is a numb sort of telling, one that made me as the reader also numb to it. Even to the things that were meant to elicit shock. 
It's just not for me 😞

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Addiction, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Forced institutionalization

readerette's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

3.0

It might be better read as a physical copy rather than digital, and certainly not as an audiobook if one is available--there are too many images that go with the text. 

I found the literary structures overwrought and distracting. I appreciated the facts about the life experiences of the main characters as gay men in a time when homosexuality was still taboo, but watching everything through a scattered fever dream was not compelling to me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

badmom's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

The structure of this novel can be confusing as it often moves between past & present, through different voices & states of consciousness, referencing literary quotes & research data & history & art. However, it is a fascinating look at memory + perspection as well as a glimpse at how society at large perceives homosexuality. The voices are poetic and rich and endearing; the imagery is entrancing. 
I’m left wanting to reread it, and also read more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Abandonment, Colonisation, Lesbophobia, and Confinement

Minor: Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity