Reviews tagging 'Racism'

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

12 reviews

ash_ton's review

medium-paced

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

2.75

This book was... okay. I wasn't really invested in the story during any point in the book. I feel bad because it's so great that there's trans and queer rep in a teen book, but I can't rate it high just for that.

The plotline idea was cool, just maybe not the execution? I just felt like I needed more. Idk. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Outing, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Body horror, Deadnaming, Bullying, Grief, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Sexual content, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Cursing

thewizardem's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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: Transphobia, Racism, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Confinement, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Grief, Lesbophobia, Child death, Death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Racism, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Animal death, Dysphoria, and Religious bigotry

cj13's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Homophobia, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy

julieyael's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Racism, Bullying, Confinement, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Death, Deadnaming, and Outing

citrus_seasalt's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

HOOOOLY SHIT ok this book was like. so many things. It was poetic, beautiful, and then visceral at points. My god. I loved the magical realism, loved the air of mystery hidden underneath most of that for the book, the love story at the center of it all which was incredibly compelling, shdwhfineofnd WAUGH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content and Racism

humanmosquito's review against another edition

inspiring lighthearted reflective

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

3.5

When I first started writing out I didn’t really like the lack of plot, I’d somehow skipped over the prevalence of Literary within Magic Realism. That behind us, I did really enjoy this book in the end.

 I like the fuzzy line Sam walks where he’s not quite what is expected in a trans man. (I did end up reading him as a transmasc butch, but I’ll admit that interpretation is largely projection) And I like the way he’s carved out a place for himself to be comfortable in this small, bigoted town. This is true for most characters in the book, who are immigrants or 1st gen. 

Writing style wise, I enjoyed the prose, I found it evocative but I remember thinking it was too dense at one part of the book. (I think during the last act)

One thing I really liked about this book is that Sam and Miel are horny and sexually attracted to each other without it feeling voyeuristic. I’m used to other young adult authors really focusing on the characters’ atractions and intimate scenes for effect but McLemore shows these very sensual, sexually charged scenes with very little touching and skips over sex in a way that makes the characters feel very real—in the way that they’re granted privacy from the narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, Outing, and Sexual content

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Lush, tender, romantic, and tinged w/ magic, When the Moon Was Ours is a book that adeptly, gently forces the reader to slow down. The writing--w/ each word seemingly carefully and thoughtfully chosen--teters on the edge of purple prose, but McLemore somehow always strikes the balance and does it just right. The mystery and secrets and truths are interesting; the characters and their relationships w/ one another complex and full of depth; though I do find some the characters' decisions frustrating. 

What I most appreciate about the book, however, definitely has to be the empathetic, sensitive portrayal and exploration of its transgender characters, particularly Samir. This is my first time reading such a book, and it is so revelatory, insightful, and heartrending. A tender and imaginative work that thoughtfully explores themes of identity, love, and truth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Body shaming, and Homophobia

Moderate: Racism and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent, Death, and Sexual content

ang_mendoza's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-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

2.0

I feel like I read the rough draft of this book. A lot of cheap storytelling devices were used to tell readers things that weren't clearly shown. There were a few symbols that could have been really cool but the author overused them and reintroduced stories/imagery as if they weren't already said. Also the extent of what magic was normalized and what wasn’t felt unclear and inconsistent. I mainly read for the trans rep and while I like Sam a lot as a character, a lot of his plotline felt heavily based in Miel's very surface level understanding of the trans experience. His struggle with gender felt unfairly posed against the other characters' more deliberate secrets and while it may ring true to some relationships, the framing of compromising your boundaries around dysphoria as a gesture of trust felt very misplaced. I recognize that the author is nonbinary but they also explicitly said that they were drawing on their husband's experience and not their own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Minor: Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Racism

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Confinement, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia, Cursing, Suicide, and Racism