Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

True Biz by Sara Nović

35 reviews

marissab's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, Dementia, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Classism, Cursing, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Bullying

liesbethvv's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I am very grateful for this book. It’s eye-opening and very informative. Although the informational bits interrupted the pace a bit, I didn’t really mind. It felt true to form to feel like an outsider for once, having to learn things to fully understand the setting and characters. As we are fed little bits of the characters’ struggles in their different parts of the Deaf community, we are immersed in a different world, that should very much be more intertwined with ours. Thanks to Sara, I’m now much more aware of the struggles and possible solutions that could be put in place for everyone’s sake, not just the hearing world’s. Also curious to read more of Sara’s work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy, Racism, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Child death, Car accident, Bullying, and Vomit

augustar14's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

A wonderful dive into Deaf culture and life at a Deaf residential school. The cast of characters is diverse and well developed, each with their own experience of and relationship with their community, culture, and ability (or inability) to assimilate into the hearing world.  I found the perspective of the main character stepping into the Deaf world for the first time to be a great way to transition the reader into a culture they may know little about.  The interludes between chapters that provided more information about ASL were the perfect level for beginners. I especially appreciated, as one listening to this as an audio book (ironic, I know, but it's the most accessible way for me to read lately), the added noise of hands signing when the text was meant to be signed ASL as opposed to spoken English. It would not have been the same experience otherwise. 
Highly recommend this book both to those who have experience with Deaf culture, and those who have none at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Dementia

Audism

kaitlinnoodles's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Ableism, Car accident, Medical trauma, Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Dementia, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Racism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Mental illness, Sexism, Police brutality, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

sarkenobi's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Dementia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Child death, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Violence

eveymarie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Car accident, Cursing, Death, and Dementia

astridhawk's review against another edition

informative inspiring 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

4.5

As the daughter of an ASL speaker, this book really resonated with me. I was pleasantly surprised by all the cultural and linguistic information scattered through the book, and the story itself was surprisingly compelling - especially given that I don’t generally enjoy teenage/YA books. Although the traumatic parts were hard to read, they were hard because I know they were based on reality. Everything else was really enjoyable to read and learn from, and I’m glad I left my usual world of sci-fi and spec fic to give this one a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Dementia, and Drug use

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Car accident, Child abuse, and Hate crime

martinatan's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring tense 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

What a killer, heartfelt story! I loved the use of the chapter bumpers as diegetic one-pagers on Deaf culture, ASL, and Wikipedia articles. The ending and how it resolved formative conflicts in the three protagonists’  lives was so satisfying to experience. I loved that it served as a testament to direct action, while showing that the tradeoffs in taking such action are hard to ignore when multiple parties’ livelihoods are at stake.

This novel truly feels like a love letter to the Deaf community and disabled activists. The author does a wonderful job of incorporating different archetypes of Deaf experience that dispel any thoughts of monolith from Deaf ideologies. After reading this, I am more curious about other intersectional identities that were not covered related to race, gender, religion, and other disability.

The formatting of dialogue and illustrative chapter titles speak to the spirit of the term “deaf gain” as opposed to “hearing loss”—these visual and spatial tidbits enhance Nović’s strong artistic voice. Highly recommend to anyone seeking an earnest and important coming-of-age story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Racism, Car accident, Drug use, Dementia, and Alcohol

Minor: Grief, Hate crime, Confinement, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Vomit, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment

aviery's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Car accident

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Dementia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, and Medical trauma

icapturethecastle's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative 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

This book opened my eyes to the dilemmas and resilience of the deaf community, and I learned a lot about their culture and history. Characters were real, raw, but loveable. Also enjoyed the boarding school aspect

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death, and Cursing