Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

15 reviews

hduc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book deals with monstrous people. Of course there will be disturbing stories. But fear not, take one or two pages at a time. You would come out of this book a heart lighter.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Self harm, Child abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Sexism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Genocide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

dubtronius15's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Racism

chelseadoherty's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Incest, Sexual assault, Addiction, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Drug abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Mass/school shootings, Pandemic/Epidemic, Misogyny, and Suicide

flissbooks's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Racism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

larajgriff1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

Unfortunately my expectations and hopes for this book were vastly different than what I experienced.  I wanted a more broad view of how "monstrous" artists affect their fandom and what the group as a whole or individually moves forward.  This book is much more personal to the writer and more of a memoir of her life and how she relates to different artists than the effect of their actions on the world.  

However, I cannot fault the author for the book not being what I hoped.  It is written very well and does make some good points about how these moments and artists affect us.  Though in the middle of the book she seems to be "existential crisis-ing" in circles and it doesn't feel like there is momentum again until the last few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicide, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abortion, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Rape, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

this is a book about people who do terrible things. It is hard to avoid anything, but I did skip a full chapter because I was so uncomfortable with the crimes of an artist.

hanhantap's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Pedophilia

introvertsbookclub's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

Addresses the question we have all been debating – what to do with the geniuses who create great art, but who are violent, sexist or racist in their personal lives.

From who is considered a genius (spoiler, men) to the value of cancel culture, this book takes unexpected turns but is more satisfying for it. It is brimming with an infectious love of books and films and music, and a breadth of knowledge on these subjects that makes reading it an immersive experience and counter-balances the darker stories.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence and Racism

jainabee's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I am so glad this book exists because I NEEDED it. It needed to exist in the world. The question of how to balance fandom of my favorite works of creativity with the toxic and destructive behaviors of the creators is an issue that torments me. Dederer directly addresses some of my own pet monsters; Woody Allen, David Bowie, JK Rowling, Miles Davis. This book makes me think a LOT. This book is very uncomfortable in a vitally important way. This book challenges me in ways I needed. The chapter comparing and contrasting Valerie Solanas and Sylvia Plath (!!!!!) flipped my wig with the brilliance of unexpected insights about how women respond to the violence of misogyny. The chapter about Lolita is a sparkling gem of brilliant insight and analysis that might be the best review of it I've ever read (spoiler alert: Nabokov is not a monster, though he is a genius). This book is FULL of triggering content, as it describes the crimes of the creators. No way around that. The point of the book seems to be to face the monsters directly and feel the extremely uncomfortable dilemma between loving something, even the monster, "even after everything." I got a lot to think about here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Rape, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Abandonment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pedophilia, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Mental illness, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Drug abuse, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Racism, War, Xenophobia, Genocide, and Hate crime

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Fire/Fire injury

I need to read this book again. And probably again.

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Suicide

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Physical abuse

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Drug use, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Racism