Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - The City We Became

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

150 reviews

aliiloue's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Brilliantly written with a sure and engaging style. The characters leapt off the page and had clear voices throughout. i had to let go a bit and just go with the vibes but hoo boy did i love the ride. this felt so fresh and unique. i loved the concept and it was really interesting to see how it was developed. the ending felt a little rushed but i'm interested in checking out the second one!

Content Warnings

shoshin's review against another edition

Go to review page

The ableism got to be too much for me.

The treatment of

the Staten Island avatar's panic attacks and abuse history

were bad, but I was willing to give Jemisin more of a chance because sometimes it takes more than one time showing a character to work through complicated issues. Then the fact that making buildings accessible makes them "not New York enough"

so that the enemy can attack them

made me pause reading. I usually read a few reviews when I'm considering quitting a book. What I found out is that

the treatment of the Staten Island character gets even worse

. I'm not willing to invest more time in this series based on that, and I'm reconsidering whether I ever read other Jemisin books.

Content Warnings

sofia_santana's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny 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

Content Warnings

dawntin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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

2.0

This book was not for me. The message was good but heavy-handed. Each character was introduced with the traits that made them special (race, ethnicity, sexuality, occupation, etc.) and they all had superpowers, due to being the avatars of major cities. There were also pop culture references and snappy dialogue. This was cool and all, but I felt like the author tried way too hard to be quirky and inadvertently ended up playing into some stereotypes in the process of making these super-quirky diverse characters. Like, did the main Indian character really need to have

math-related

superpowers? The avatar of Hong Kong literally being named Hong Kong and his accent being described as “Chinese-inflected British English” was straight up weird. The Black characters were fine though, maybe because the author is Black herself. Pacing was weird and the book wrapped everything up in like the last 20 pages. It felt like there was so much build-up before they saved the day, and when they did, I wasn’t even sure what was happening.

Content Warnings

book_gremlin42's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

artemis7's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

This is one of the coolest books I've ever read.

It's so unique and innovative. The way Jemisin personified each borough of NYC was brilliant. The writing is descriptive and the world building is excellent, bringing each borough and character to life in this metaphor for gentrification. Each avatar had a separate and distinct voice from one another, and it's hard to choose a favorite (although the least favorite is obvious 😂 IYKYK).

Although I've never lived in the city, it's just a train ride away, so I'm sure it helps having experience with NYC and understanding the references. But if you've never been here, you can still enjoy the book for sure. The connections to the city are just a bonus for us New Yorkers.

This was just so damn cool and N.K. Jemisin is a genius and I need to get my hands on book two immediately.

Content Warnings

heini's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark hopeful medium-paced

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

Suomennos oli hämmentävä. Ehkä ne ovat tyylikeinoja tai en vain ymmärtänyt, mutta lukukokemusta haittaa, kun jatkuvasti ilmaisut särähtävät korvaan. Puhutaan jonkun ensimmäisestä rodeosta; henkilö, jota alkuperäisteoksessa kuvaillaan ja nimitetään sanoilla 'strawberry blond man-bun' suomennetaan mansikanvaaleaksi hipster sämpyläksi; yleinen kirosana on paskapökäle ja joku on hullumpi kuin lepakonpaska (batshit crazy?).

Itse kirjasta: Seuraamme New York Cityn kaupunginosien ihmisavatareja, jotka ilmentävät suurkaupungin monimuotoisuutta.
Hahmot olivat mukavan ristiriitaisia ja oli mielenkiintoista, kuinka välillä ihmisen kauheista piirteistä tuli ominaisia ja "hyödyllisiä", osa tarvittavaa kokonaisuutta.
Tarina oli värikkäiden kertojiensa vuoksi hauska ja myös sivuhenkilöt olivat huippuja,

(eräs lempparihahmoni oli perinteisen Checker-taksin kuljettaja Madison, tosin luultavasti siksi, että kuvittelin hänet Roundabout-pelin Georgioksi ("the worlds first revolving limousine driver"). Heillä oli samanlaista hällä-väliä ja auttamisen asennetta.

Valkoinen ja kirkkaus oli pahuuden ilmikuva, mikä on tietysti myös käänteinen kerrontaperinteen musta/pimeys=paha logiikalle, jota on ihonväriinkin sovellettu.
Kirjan yksi ydinkuvaus on, kuinka ennakkoluulot ja oletukset tuhoavat meitä (yksilöitä, yhteisöjä, yhteiskuntia) sisältä päin ja vain ruokkivat yhteisiä vihollisiamme.

Pelko, että ihmisyys tuhotaan kosmisessa maailmojen sodassa / pelko, joka syntyy kaikesta siitä "normaalista" tai normaaliksi hyväksystä (kauheista ja epämukavista asioista), jota arkemme ihmisinä ihmisten keskellä on.

Content Warnings

mementomoriiv's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Jemisin has a fascinating twist on issues of xenophobia and the recent upsurge of the alt right and men's rights movement. It's cleverly written and keeps the reader's interest throughout the text. I look forward to the sequels!

Content Warnings

kayberlyn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

More...