Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

36 reviews

aisabel's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Incest, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Transphobia and War

jonmayb's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.0

I went in to this book genuinely expecting to enjoy it, but really didn't. While I felt as though it added interesting depth to their characters, I found the 200 introductory pages of Cal's inbred family to be unnecessarily long.
Additionally, it is never described quite how Cal, who narrates these 200 pages, knew with such detail their events. While he does learn that Desdemona and Lefty were brothers, it is never clear when he learns of his parents' own inbred nature.  At a certain point, he mentions that his father never knew that his parents were siblings, which just seems really unbelievable. 
Additionally,"Callie's" transition to "Cal" goes practically unexplained. For the 250 pages pertaining to Callie that precede her instantaneous transition, it is described how, despite her physical attributes, she seems to fit in with girlhood, and that she attempts to align herself more with it. Then, with absolutely no explanation, no reflection, nothing at all, Cal emerges instantaneously from Callie and solidifies himself within his new, assured gender identity. No character-driven narrative precedes this. By the time he arrives to this conclusion, the book is less than 100 pages from over. 
The narration, at times, felt unnecessarily convoluted. Cal's reference to his childhood friend as "the Obscure Object" seemed entirely artificial. He cites his reasonings for referring to her as such for "protecting her identity," but does not fail to name-drop every other character in the book. 
Ultimately however, while it did build up to a painfully unfulfilling anticlimax, for the most part, I enjoyed reading the chapters on Cal's own life growing up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Transphobia

bootsmom3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Death, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual content, Transphobia, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Dementia and Grief

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I wasn't expecting a generational saga, but that's what it is, at least in large part. A fascinating look back in time and at a different culture. Slow, largely introspective. Brings up valid questions about gender in society, but less time is spent on that than I expected. Not my favorite, interesting tho.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Dysphoria, Incest, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Classism, Death, Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

mousmoulo's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

i had to read this for uni, and nearly a month later it's FINALLY over. this isn't to say that i didn't enjoy it, i just really don't know how to feel about it.

it was too long and too slow for my liking. i've somehow never read another book following different generations one after the other and i found it far more interesting than i expected. some parts were very enjoyable, others bored me to death. overall a very mixed bag of a book.

what is important to point out is that i read/watched some reviews of the book from actual intersex people, because i was curious if it was accurate in any way, shape or form. turns out, it's not really, from what i've gathered, which brings up some issues (e.g. cal's being intersex as "punishment" for

his grandparents incest

, the emphasis on genitalia etc.). 

an enlightening review on the book by an intersex person (hi, hello, hans on youtube): https://youtu.be/vmyKRGpZclc

no rating until i have some time to think about this, lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Incest

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

teaxmillions's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Sexual content

Minor: Transphobia

finleigh's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Sexual content, Rape, Incest, Medical content, Xenophobia, and Racism

lief_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Incest, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, and Dementia

Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, Gun violence, and Body shaming

Minor: Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Outing

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

There was a lot wrong with this book. (Though to be fair, I went in thinking that this was non-fiction, an autobiography by an intersex person, and realized with horror only later that it was fiction.) The storytelling style spanned three generations and was therefore unique, and the author clearly has a strong grasp of descriptive prose and timelines. And maybe, maybe, this was a progressive and gender-inclusive book for its time. But my commendations end there. From beginning to end, this book was full of racial stereotypes (particularly anti-Black) and racist accents if listening to the audiobook, one-sided takes on historical events, and incest. Fucking incest. Perhaps the author was not condoning procreation with one's full-blooded biological sibling, but was going into such detail necessary? Regardless of intent, this signaled that aside from being taboo on its own, being intersex is also the result of taboos, a mutation in chromosomes occurring out of inbreeding. 
I'm giving it 2 stars because I liked some of the writing. The writer displays good technique here. I'm taking away 3 because of the contents and everything else about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Incest

Moderate: Car accident, Deadnaming, Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Dementia, and Sexual content

Minor: Fatphobia

mpswans1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Medical trauma, Genocide, Dysphoria, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Grief, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Body shaming, and Drug use