Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

11 reviews

summermorning's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Racism, and Child abuse

Minor: Sexual content

lynxpardinus's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, and Racism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Violence, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Slavery, and Transphobia

howlinglibraries's review against another edition

hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

 

"So who is The Black Flamingo?"

"He is me, who I have been,
who I am, who I hope to become.
Someone fabulous, wild, and strong.
With or without a costume on."

I'd been meaning to read The Black Flamingo since it took the book community by storm a couple of years ago, and it definitely did NOT disappoint. Following Michael, a young biracial (Jamaican/Greek Cypriot) British boy, we start off at a young age in his life and watch him grow into a college freshman learning self-love through drag.

The entire story is told as a novel in verse, but the first-person narrative gave the book a very autobiographical feeling that was beautiful to experience. There's a lot of commentary on race, gender, sexuality, and feeling "othered" by your loved ones that a lot of readers will absolutely relate to, but most of all, I loved seeing this beautiful queer young Black boy celebrate every facet of his identity by the end of it.

It's for your liberation. It's knowing that after this nothing will be the same for you. It's a rebirth.

✨ Representation: Michael is Jamaican/Greek Cypriot and self-identifies as both Black and mixed, is gay, and uses he/him pronouns but seems to be exploring some elements of his gender; several side characters are Black and/or multiracial; several side characters are queer, including gay, lesbian, bi, and trans on-page representations

✨ Content warnings for: bullying, homophobia, racism, substance abuse, absent parent, brief mention of child abuse 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse

brookey8888's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? Yes

4.0

 really enjoyed this! I really like the poetry/verse way it was written. I liked the characters and the growth they went through finding themselves. I really appreciated the topics discussed. I can’t speak for them because I luckily haven’t dealt/experienced these topics. I would definitely recommend this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

lucystolethesky's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Alcohol, and Drug use

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse

dorothysbookshelf's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Bullying, and Drug use

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Biphobia, Police brutality, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Transphobia

discworldwitch's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

Phenomenal. This book was over too quickly for me. It left me wanting more, but at the same time, I’m happy where it left off. I love books in verse, and the poetry here is flawless. It blends beautifully and seamlessly with a lighthearted, human, familiar and unfamiliar story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit and Child abuse

readandfindout's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 3.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Bullying, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship

taelights's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

First of all, I listened to this on audiobook and there was just something so powerful about the author himself reading it himself. But also I'm so tempted to revisit this book in a physical copy eventually just to see how the expierence differs because I definitely wouldn't mind reading this book again. 

I've never read a book in verse before and I wasn't sure how I'd like it because I've never been super into poetry, but I loved this one so much. The writing style was absolutely beautiful and so enjoyable to me. 

The book itself was raw and emotional, exploring important topics of self acceptance, growing into your true self, and dealing with both homophobia and racism. A lot of the author's words were just very true and sincere and hit so hard. It had just a lot of important messages within the story. 

I thought Michael was a fantastic character, very intriguing, and he felt so real to me. I loved getting to read his story and watch him grow. 

My only issue with the book is I wish it was longer, I felt like a lot of areas could have been explored more so I really wish some sections were more fleshed out and explored deeper. 

Overall this was a very easy and fast read that I would highly recommend. It was very emotional and powerful and it's a story that deserves to be heard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Drug use, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Child abuse

Internalized homophobia and internalized racism are also topics explored which I feel like deserve separate content warning tags.

kelsreadsthings's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, and Homophobia