Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu

15 reviews

julesceasara's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Gross but I guess that was most of the plot. The fact they were 10 years old was kind of Ick. However it was a very quick, engrossing read. For the life of me I can’t figure out the ending like wtf actually happened and I can’t find any mention of it online I feel like I’m losing my mind. Did someone die? Or not? Like I don’t know, and it seems like no one else does either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Excrement, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Body shaming, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Death of parent

llorona's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Fatphobia, Rape, Child death, Body shaming, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Blood

lilmisssouthernyn's review against another edition

dark lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Excrement, and Body shaming

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

Tween girls being a tad feral - I know this word is overused a lot these days when a book is about women/girls doing things slightly outside the accepted norm, but to be fair, one of them does shit in a box and blame it on a dog. 

Abreu does an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of a sleepy village in the Canary Islands, the heat of the summer, the volcanic landscape, the striking disparity that exists between locals and tourists. We follow two girls, Isora and Shit (yes, idk either), who embody toxic tween girl relationships. They constantly cross boundaries, obsessed with one another, then enemies, leading one another to dangerous situations, being each other's be-all-and-end-all, not speaking for days, weeks. There are physical fights, awful first sexual experiences, overwhelming feelings. 

And yet, all that, and I felt slightly at a remove from the text itself. I agree with some other reviewers that the girls often came across as older than they were, though I'm also aware that girls are forced to grow up quicker than boys. 

Crude and atmospheric, vulgar and sticky. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

james1star's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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 was okay I guess, I’m not too sure really on how to review it in all honesty. It certainly started well and you get the sense from page one Abreu is not going to hold back. Whilst it’s a little (well lotta) unpleasant to start a book with a girl making herself throw up, I did actually love the rawness and no-self-control aspect of these characters, preparing myself for a no-shits-given read. The book is all from the POV of an unnamed ten year old girl given the nickname ‘shit’ by her friend Isora and their poverty-ridden life in the hills of Tenerife. The first three quarters of the book just follows these two as they go about, not really doing much and it’s for sure more of a character-driven novel. I did like this to start and Abreu does give us a good character study and represents the harsh life of those living in Tenerife with a big divide between the locals and tourists well. But… it does get a bit much after some time with repetitive scenarios of gross bodily functions with the reading experience becoming quite uncomfortable and sickening to be frank. She presents female sexuality, puberty and growing up in an raw light which I appreciate but it does get too crass. I don’t mind crass books and can forgive them sometimes but the more it went on I didn’t get any sense of a true message or crux to it so maybe she was just adding these in for the sake of it? The book leads up to a climatic event and onwards I really began to dislike it more so, I don’t think the topics were presented all that well and it’s just quite an irritating read. 

Like I said, this is quite a difficult book to review because I think the translation is really what let it down. I’ve read lots of reviews (well more so the comments on these) and it’s apparent those who read the original Spanish rated it higher and it was received better there. This is a book that is meant to be representing poor Spanish women in the Canary Islands so when I, a working class cis-presenting man who’s lived my whole life in London, reads this I can’t grapple the culture and life to the best of my ability. That’s not to say I can’t rationalise and see things from other’s perspective but maybe some books just aren’t meant to be translated and possibly this is the case for Dogs of Summer which is a shame. The nuance of Abreu’s craft in regards to the story and character studies was likely lost in the translation process. However, there still are some Spanish-speaking reviews that rated it low. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder

Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, Sexual content, and Excrement

Minor: Fatphobia, Animal death, Classism, Rape, Suicide, Self harm, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

victoriakvitnes's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Rape

Moderate: Vomit, Child death, Sexual assault, and Self harm

taylorsevalia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment

yinflower's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Child abuse, Vomit, and Blood

Minor: Suicide

anajailer's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

i don't really know how to feel about this book. i liked the writting style an the fact that it was a queer story. i did finish it in a few days, but there were quite a few things that made me uncomfortable. maybe i was just an innocent kid so i don't relate to the characters as much. the friendship was so toxic, it bothered me a lot tbh
i did try to read the portuguese version first as i feel that would have been closer to the original book but i could only find it in brazillian pt. translation may have played a part as well

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide, Fatphobia, Self harm, Death, and Vomit

lidia7's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Excrement, Animal cruelty, and Rape

Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Vomit, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Child death

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent