Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Real Sugar is Hard to Find by Sim Kern

2 reviews

razzberry_pi's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring
  • 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

a bit of a mixed bag since it is a collection of stories

definitely more focused on themes of pregnancy and parent/motherhood than i was expecting which isnt generally something i relate much to or seek out. 

i would also very much disagee that the stories are laid out dystopian to utopian as the description claims, many things placed towards the beginning seem much more tolerable than a few in the middle/end

the top three stories for me were
  • The Listener
  • The Propogator
  • Sister, Fly-or-Die
with an honourable mention to The Lost Roads
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meshell's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I read Sim Kern’s Real Sugar is Hard To Find a few weeks ago, and it has stuck with me. The short story collection grapples with some heavy topics - climate change, reproductive freedom and reproductive justice (both to have, and to have not), what we owe one another, parenthood, compassion and understanding. I feel like it really captures some of the highs and lows of thinking about the future (or even just existing in the present.) 
 
I suspect I connected with many of these stories to the level I did, because I'm a both a parent and someone concerned about the environment. Or someone thinking about the future or the world we leave behind for future generations. These stories help create potential futures, and thankfully, in many cases feature moments of repair in ruin (though not always.) 
 
Stand outs for me were The Listener, in which we get to live in a world with at least one person that can talk to trees - but it’s also a story about family and identity. The New Nomad, where a parent confronts the unpopular idea of having another child on a struggling planet. The heartbreaking Tadpoles, where it’s about so much more than tadpoles. The Last Roads was a powerful story of change, restoration, forgiveness, and understanding. The intersection of reproductive and horticultural freedom in The Propagator. I realize now that I’ve started, there are many stories I want to call out, several weeks after reading this book - they’ve stuck around in my mind. 
 
Worlds where the freedom to reproduce is curtailed, worlds where the freedom from reproduction is curtailed, worlds where family and community and society is restructured, worlds without cars but with accessible transportation, worlds with radical forest sprites, worlds full of imagination, there is so much richness in this work, and I'd recommend it. 
 
Sim Kern has this ability to create worlds that feel like they exist, with relatively few words, and they’ve become an authour I follow and buy the works of. Definitely one to watch I think. 
 
I bought this book, and also got a review copy from netgalley. 

I think it's nice that the authour took the time to layout some of the Trigger Warnings by story, so that's worth checking out if you need/want to as well. 
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