Reviews with content warning for Violence - Flamer

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Flamer by Mike Curato

19 reviews

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

This is so beautifully drawn. Curato's black-and-white landscapes are stunning, and the occasional pops of red and orange are perfectly chosen and placed. I kind of want to go back through it and just look at the pictures, without reading the words.

Because the words are... they're rough, y'all. I'm not too much older than the characters here, and it was a terrible time to be a young queer person. Or a young person other people thought was queer. Or a young person who was just different in any way. And yet we all yearned for connection and belonging, no matter how many times other people broke our hearts. Curato looks at all of that with an unflinching honesty that made the book kind of difficult to get through. He tells a vitally important story, but not, perhaps, one you'll want to revisit, despite the hopeful ending.

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livlamentloathe's review against another edition

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dark hopeful sad

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

4.0

A brutally honest but emotional story. I've been Aiden before, thinking "I'm not gay because-." I've had dreams that I never told anyone about because they were sexual and about other girls and I was scared. It's terrifying to be a child and told you CAN'T be a certain way. I'm so glad Aiden (and Mike) survived their experiences. I'm glad this story exists to show that people will always love you. Even if things seem lonely and awful, there's always someone out there who cares, who would miss you. Jean Grey was a great allusion. I enjoyed this book a great deal. I hope it stays on library shelves forever.

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leguinstan's review

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emotional hopeful sad 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

3.0

Content Warnings

robinks's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I flew through this book, though as a fellow QT AAPI person, it was really challenging to read through the bullying and Aiden’s palpable feelings. I didn’t really like the art style, and the flame metaphor was a bit of a stretch, but overall this is a powerful, hopefully story.

Content Warnings

spookieboogie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

davidbythebay's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was very nice and encompasses some different perspectives than a lot of the mainstream LGBTQ material out there. First, the main character is a questioning Asian-American male. This is definitely an underrepresented demographic. Second, he knows he's gay but can't really admit to it. This is so incredibly relatable. Additionally, we have the Christian angle where our MC is struggling with his faith. This scout camp being homophobic is also another perspective we don't always get. Finally, we have the lovely aspect of mental health wherein our MC is struggling but doesn't appear to be diagnosed with anything outright. How his faith and inner self help him through is a big portion of this book.

This is a story with no ending and a number of dangling threads that still feels complete. That makes this a wonderful story to foster discussion and introspection - some of my favorite kinds of LGBTQ+ material do this. Overall, this was delightful and provides a unique point of view on coming to terms with being gay, but not coming out.

Content Warnings