Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K. Jarboe

11 reviews

eli99's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

An interesting collection of speculative queer fiction. Some of the works are very good while a few didn't land with me. That is the case with most collections of fiction as not everything lands. I really enjoyed I AM A BEAUTIFUL BUG as a self aware metaphor for being trans.

Content Warnings

directorpurry's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

librarymouse's review

Go to review page

funny medium-paced

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

3.75

I thought it was kind of a funny quirk of the organization that the titular story came so late in the book. Some stories I really liked. Others, I'm conflicted on, but overall, I enjoyed the book. This might be something I'll read again. I really enjoyed the extended nature of the titular story, and especially "The Heavy Thing," "We Did Not Know We Were Giants," "I Am a Beautiful Bug!" and "The Thing in Us We Fear Just Wants Our Love." My issue was with some of the earlier stories. They almost made me put down the book, but I'm glad I didn't. I think I may read this one again. The integration of eco criticism in a post-apocalyptic setting in which the world ended with a shuddering gasp and then kept on kind of going made these stories interesting and for the most part interconnected, even as they spanned a variety of subject matter and characters.

Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective slow-paced

2.5

I enjoyed a few stories in this collection (particularly Self Care, Estranged Children of Storybook Houses, and I Am A Beautiful Bug!) but the more poem-like pieces didn't really interest me and there were a lot of distracting usage errors in the kindle version.

Content Warnings

olive_lol's review

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

One of the things I like most about this collection is that each story is unique, but they come together to create a full image. The collection tackles many topics, and each feels like it gets the attention it needs to be properly addressed. A few of the stories didn't click with me, but those that did really stuck.

In general, the collection has a vibe of contemplative melancholy, but it still keeps good humor at points. Most stories' perspectives and writing styles are noticably different from the last, which kept the same style from getting stale.

My two favorites have to be Everyone On The Moon is Essential Personnel (as in, the story that shares a name with the collection) and The Android that Designed Itself.

If beautiful prose with some experemental storytelling is your thing, give this a try!

Content Warnings

scribblesandsuch's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

This was an amazing read, I highly recommend it for someone who wants to read some expansive queer literature. It made me feel deeply connected and grounded (funnily enough since it's surrealism) and the autism story made my heart ache as an autistic in the best way

Content Warnings

leguinstan's review

Go to review page

reflective 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

3.5

Why does God create grapes and wheat, but not wine and bread? God does this because God wants us to share in the act of creation. To be how you made me, to become how God made me, through you, I can remake myself. You and I: we are already only whole, and shifting towards the divine.

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel is a collection of consisting of short stories, poetry, and one novella. Although I consider myself a huge fan of SFF short stories and novellas, I actually found Jarboe's flash fiction a lot more compelling than their longer works--which is surprising since the shortest stories in the collections I have previously read tend to be my least favorites.

I'm not sure how to explain this but I feel that a lot of Jarboe's short stories lack that sense of resolution--regardless of emotional mood and tone-- I usually associate with my favorite short stories. Stories such as the titular novella, "The Nothing Spots Where Nobody Wants to Stay", and "As Tender Feet of Cretan Girls Danced Once Around an Altar of Love" did not have distinct character or plot arcs. And while I recognize the character development in other works such as "The Seed and the Stone" and
We Did Not Know We Were Giants", these works felt so bogged down in metaphor that I struggled to derive a sense of satisfaction from their respective endings.

I don't particularly appreciate these aforementioned works as stories. What I do appreciate, however, is the strong imagery, lyrical prose, and imagination that is on display in all of the works in this collection--even in the ones that I dislike. I suspect that Jarboe's flash fiction and poetry generally worked better for me because I can focus on these aspects of their writing while setting aside my expectations of what makes a good work of fiction.

"The Marks of Aegis" and "The Heavy Things" really resonated with me despite the fact that they are less than five pages long and that they fully lean into the surrealism that can be found in a lot of Jarboe's works. "Estranged Children of Storybook Houses", "Self Care", and "I Am a Beautiful Bug!" were the other stories that also stood out to me. While I am unenthused with the collection as a whole, I genuinely think that Jarboe has a lot of talent and I look forward to reading more of their works.

Minor sidenote: the edition I read (ISBN 9781590216927) is riddled with typos which on occasion detracted from my reading experience. Hopefully this issue gets solved in reprintings!

Content Warnings

kenzielireads's review

Go to review page

dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

olivinebranch's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

e_flah's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.25

Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel was a thoroughly enjoyable collection of speculative short stories, which is really saying something as I'm a very hesitant short story reader. I absolutely loved the queerness in this collection -- sometimes it's a main feature of a story, sometimes it's just present. Jarboe's prose had a knack for worming under my skin and placing me inside of the stories. Some of my favorite stories were "The Marks of Aegis," "The Android that Designed Itself," and "I Am a Beautiful Bug!"

“Choosing is extremely powerful magic. Its power derived from the death of what is not chosen.”

Ironically the only story I didn't enjoy was the titular one, which also happened to be the longest story by quite a significant amount. That said, the range of subject matter and style of these stories made for a gripping read. I look forward to recommending Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel to everyone I know who loves delightfully bizarre stories.

“To take shape is to sever the infinite possibilities of wanting into a fragile burden of being.”

Content Warnings

More...