Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

3 reviews

kacheekah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, Violence, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Murder, Police brutality, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Outing, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

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

nicnevin's review against another edition

dark inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

A vital book for any queer person or for anyone who is an ally. It is hard to read at times but I saw myself reflected in those pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Outing, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit