Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Blackouts: A Novel by Justin Torres

9 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

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

This is a beautifully written and sensitively told story about grief, loss, and love in the respective queer communities of the two main characters (approximately from the 1930s to the 1990s). The novel is an interesting blend of fact and fiction, and is told through blackout/erasure poetry, as well as narratives from the two leads. I found the erasure poetry and the inserted images to add positively to my reading experience.

The main characters also experience literal memory blackouts that influence the narrative, which makes it a bit tricky to follow at some points, but if you take the time to math it out, you can make a decent timeline of important dates and the characters’ ages. Sometimes it is tricky to tell what is a memory and what is a dream/hope/wish/fear/desire, which is an intentional stylistic choice, but one that I don’t personally like.

One aspect I don’t like about any book—not just this one—is when a book just ends without closure or a hint at closure. I can’t stand it when the narrative does a hard cut into acknowledgments.

Though just because this book isn’t stylistically my jam, I would still recommend reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Child abuse, Outing, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Ableism, Chronic illness, Dementia, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Homophobia

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

mirandyli's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

A beautifully written, heart wrenching story about intergenerational queer friendship. Will make you want to hug and kiss the queer elders in your life. This book won a bunch of awards and deserved all of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Drug use, Infidelity, Biphobia, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Racism, Addiction, Homophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

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

mmccombs's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was like reading a dream, experimental and surreal and blurry. I leave this feeling like I didn’t quite get it but I do appreciate what it was doing. Blending different types of art and fiction/nonfiction, it’s a book that explores gaps in memory and in history. I’m glad I read this but also know it might take a while to really wrap my mind around it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Death, Racism, and Mental illness

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Confinement, Cursing, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, and Infidelity