Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

12 reviews

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

4.75

Grateful to have sat down and read this seminal text. People are not kidding when they say it can be a rough read. I found the first third or so to be the hardest because the protagonist is still a minor and some really horrific things happen. Watching Jess grow up and all that comes with growing up was such a gift. The characters in this book are beautiful and complex and watching them live out their lives was such a gift. This book gave me a lot to think about and a myriad of emotions. I recommend checking out the content warnings in general, and a heads up that chapter 25 features a lot of dead naming. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Classism, Murder, Mental illness, Homophobia, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Misogyny

Minor: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Deadnaming

saritaadam's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

It broke my heart

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Rape, Death, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual content, Sexism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Deadnaming, Medical content, Grief, Outing, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Vomit, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, and Gore

Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, and Suicide

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

bearystarry's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

Fuck capitalism, fuck white supremacy, fuck the police. Incredibly rewarding read, even if it’s excruciatingly painful sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Outing, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Medical trauma, Excrement, Bullying, Body shaming, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexism, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Racism, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Homophobia, Cursing, Child abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Genocide, and War

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Drug use, Bullying, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Car accident, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Confinement, Alcohol, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Dementia, and Rape

earthtokb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Suicide, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Blood

transgender's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Transphobia, Racism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Bullying, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Antisemitism, and Suicide

celestriakle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I see why this book is considered a foundational queer text. It covers such a length of time, and it's fascinating to have that glimpse into the past and over the decades. It really does resonate even in 2023; so many of the struggles we had then are recurring again, and it's fascinating to see how the conversations played out both then and now. It did succeed in its main mission, getting me to think about gender and expression and all such things. Even when I wasn't reading, I found myself reconsidering my own gender and considering the experiences and variety we see. Not to mention, the prose is beautiful. I had so many passages highlighted of beautiful description that underscored the mood of the moment.

That said, it's not a perfect book. There are a LOT of side characters, and for me they blended together. All the butches sounded and acted very similar, so did all the femmes. The archetypes make a big splash of strong characterization the first time, but then it loses some power when you see all the characters acting similarly. That said, there are still a couple stand-outs, so it's not all bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Classism, Bullying, Blood, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Outing, Deadnaming, Confinement, Transphobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide and Adult/minor relationship

smlemire's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Police brutality, Homophobia, Rape, and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicide, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, and Adult/minor relationship

gardedvoir's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Transphobia, Bullying, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, and Suicide

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad tense 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

3.25

"Deep down, my insides seethed. I knew I was stone, too. It was a home alarm system that didn't seem to have an on-off switch. Once installed, the sirens went off and the gates shut, even if the intruder was loving." FUCK!!!

The book reads like it was a second draft that got published without any further editing. If there even was an editor at all. My edition had many typos and punctuation errors. Minor, but I still noticed them.

One strength the book has though is, in Jess' earlier years there's so much happening, so much to remember and to say, but then as Jess gets older life literally passes by. There's one sentence in the in between of being in her/his late 20s and approaching early/mid 30s that only says something like "years passed". Now I'm not old enough to know if that's how life feels as you age, but from what I know going from childhood to teen years to now young adulthood, I think that's an amazing detail, even if it wasn't intentional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Grief, Homophobia, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Transphobia

Moderate: Antisemitism, Death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Racism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Vomit