Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Pulp by Robin Talley

9 reviews

cayrivvers's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Infidelity

the_true_monroe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

I did not expect this book to be so rooted in history, but it made sense once I realized the same author wrote Music From Another World. That one takes place in 1970s California and this book goes between the 1950s and 2017 in Washington DC. They are both queer historical fiction which combines two genres I love. And this book taught me so much I should have learned about sooner such as the Lavender Scare and about lesbian pulp fiction novels. I actually only ever heard them referenced in Fun Home (The Musical) but I never actually looked into them- and thanks to this book I am super intrigued and need to check some out. There were some storylines in the book that I felt deserved more attention or followup, not even in terms of resolution but for consistency with the pace and flow of the novel. Some things I felt like there was not enough information provided and that we were supposed to find out more before the book ended. I do want to continue reading this author though for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Car accident, Racial slurs, Violence, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Infidelity, Transphobia, and Grief

anniereads221's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Grief, Biphobia, Hate crime, and Death

quinn_eats_rocks's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Racism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide

dudawtty's review

emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

nosmallthing's review

informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia and Homophobia

Moderate: Racism

taelights's review

DNF. The 4 storylines (not dual narrative like implied in the summery but 4 narratives) in this book are frankly too many storylines especially when only Janet's semi-interests me. But even then it's not enough to hold my interest in this book. I wish the author just picked one story to focus on rather than making this book unnecessarly long. 

Also a white author using racial slurs in her writing is very uncomfortable and kind of sus to me especially seeing as I did a bit of research and this isn't even the first time she's done this in books. (And reading up about the other book she's written slurs in... yikes. I won't be supporting this author.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia

keleri's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Forced institutionalization

valereads's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book follows two different perspectives, that of Janet Jones a teenage girl in the 1950s and that of Abbey Zimet a teenage girl in 2019. It follows these two girls as they discover lesbian pulp fiction and each try to write a lesbian pulp novel. The two characters voices and worldviews were distinct and both were enjoyable, unfortunately the historical story was much more interesting for me than the contemporary one where little seemed to happen.

I was also very disappointed in the ending.

I gave this book 4 stars when I first read it because of how it affected me emotionally however overall this book was disappointing and I'm not sure I'm going to keep it on my shelves.

Content Warnings: homophobia, racism, divorce, outing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism