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atamano's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Sexism, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Classism, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Body shaming, and Drug use
dododenise's review
- 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
5.0
In many ways I would describe this book as an educational book for social justice. It deals with topics with racism, homophobia, abuse… In many ways it’s very on the nose. But since this is a book for teens, I think it works. I think the book can teach white teens, straight teens, cis male teens about the injustices in our world. And it does so in a very interesting way, in a book full of mystery and scifi magic. The alternative worlds make for a great tool to do thought experiments on what could be, what has been and giving it a new angle.
In many ways Ash is an unreliable narrator. What I found interesting to clearly make his voice in the book him from the future, telling the story of what happened to him. So in the one hand you have Ash’s ignorance and confusion in the moment itself, as well as an Ash from the future providing commentary. I think it helps with focusing on the right themes, and making the right judgements for those who might otherwise take a wrong turn. Perhaps to some readers it might seem like Neal does not appreciate their intelligence of figuring it out themselves, but I liked it. Sometimes it’s nice to just be told what is going wrong to be able to focus on more details.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Racism, Misogyny, and Hate crime
elijahnotprophet's review against another edition
- 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? No
2.0
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Domestic abuse
jjstoff's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Racism
ms_sarah621's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Car accident, Bullying, Hate crime, Outing, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Terminal illness, Police brutality, and Gun violence
aelis_'s review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism and Homophobia
Moderate: Sexism
morag's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
The real problem is that he wants to do it all. He's trying to talk about four highly complex topics in one novel, and as a result, none of them are explored to the extent they deserve. Not only that, but because of the way the dimension hopping powers work, everything layers on top of one another. So he ends up in a world where segregation never ended, and then on top of that he becomes gay, and then on top of that he becomes a woman and an abuse victim all at once.
Every time he changes, he ends up switching focus onto the new thing, and then the other problems are relegated to the background. He spends almost the entire book in a world where segregation never ended, but then they barely touch it for half that time because he has to talk about homophobia/feminism/abuse. As a result, every exploration into these topics is extremely shallow.
Again, I appreciate the good intentions, but Shusterman should have picked one topic and stuck with it.
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Misogyny
sharkysheets's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Car accident, Sexism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Cursing, Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, and Gun violence
trixiebelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
littletiramisu's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse