Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde

14 reviews

nojerama's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

OK, I absolutely LOVED this. The best way I can describe it is whimsical eldritch horror, set in a world of magical realism. It deals hugely with themes of queerness and being an outsider in your own body and home, and how those around you try to force and mould you into their shape. How you can escape that and find your people who will love you as you are. Phenomenal book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Deadnaming, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Outing, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

thebookgiraffe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Miscarriage

decapitation, religious trauma

laurareads87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5.  I am so glad that JesseOnYoutube chose this as a group read for Blackathon2024 as I may never have found this text at all otherwise.  I don’t know what I expected when I picked up Vagabonds!  It wasn’t this, but the way Osunde captures the spirit of Lagos is extraordinary; this feels like more of a collection of very slightly intertwined short stories than a novel, but the connecting thread to all of it is Lagos itself, and particularly queer experiences of Lagos. It was a little bit inconsistent, but Osunde's writing held my attention throughout and some sections I found very emotionally impactful. 
 I found Osunde’s descriptions – particularly of queer pain and joy, of exclusion, of internalized queerphobia – deeply impactful and deeply true, and found myself highlighting frequently.  I will absolutely pick up Osunde’s next book.

<i>Content warnings:</i> violence, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, domestic abuse, forcible confinement, sexual assault, suicide, murder, death, grief

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, Transphobia, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Death, and Violence

mfrank's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Transphobia

miainthemargins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Child abuse, Racism, and Rape

biona's review

adventurous inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Na very slow start but once you get into the book (give it about 15-20 percent) you really grow to love these characters and the story as a whole. I constantly think about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia

hendrixpants's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual assault

Moderate: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

znvisser's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

3.5

This was colourful and a bit weird and full of life and even fuller of appreciation for it. I enjoyed reading it, even though bits probably went over my head (that’s something I anticipate with magical realism tho, especially when it’s embedded so deeply into a culture that’s not mine). This wasn’t really a novel nor a short story collection, but the author really managed to combine both into something of its own, with its own rules and flow. By the second half it gets a bit repetitive thematically, but there’s still a lot to love. Definitely interesting and worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry

rjo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Torture

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

Minor: Trafficking and Kidnapping

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I picked this up by chance at the Aesop Queer Library and I am so glad I did. As an American it took a bit to understand some of the dialogue but it is worth it. For a lot of the book it functions almost like short stories with a thematic through line for each section, but the end threads them all together beautifully in a way that made me sob. I loved it and will be looking for more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Body horror, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and Deadnaming