Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Razorblade Tears

Loved this book. Made me cry like a baby. So much beauty amongst such violence and hard truths. S.A. Cosby is a gifted writer, and his humor definitely shines through in this story. Overall, just a great book with lots of thought provoking & heart wrenching content! Also, I didn’t know there was so much (very descriptive) violence throughout, so just be prepared 😉

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sws004's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

3.0

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marinapaso11's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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bookdragon217's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"It's easier to keep your head in the sand than it is to try and see things from somebody else's point of view. There's a reason why they say ignorance is bliss."

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby was writing perfection for me. Cosby's narrative style was propulsive and enthralling. I could not put this one down because once I started, I was simultaneously, vividly visualizing all the action. I felt this book on a visceral level & when it finished I was left deeply emotional from the roller coaster ride.

This was primarily a character study on humanity and the ways that people hurt the ones they love the most due to ignorance and unwillingness to understand and put themselves in the shoes of another person. It was a deep dive into male parenting and the ways that race, religion and masculinity poison relationships with children, especially sons. It was a study on how two men deeply rooted in homophobic beliefs used their pain, grief and regret to attempt to gain redemption and justice while examining themselves and their own motivations. The fact that Ike and Buddy Lee are different races added more layers to work through. It was a constant conversation between the two working through their differences that allowed breakthroughs and growth to happen despite the violent nature of the story.

But this story was also a reckoning. It was reckoning with racism, toxic masculinity, homophobia, religious oppression, male fascination with violence, hate and revenge and redemption that comes at the highest cost. This story reminds us that LGBTQIA people still don't have safe spaces to just exist and to love freely without threat of violence or death. For some, home is the place where they face the most rejection and hate. This story also reminds us that it's never too late to self examine & do the work to undo the indoctrination of the harmful beliefs that are taught to us. It's never too late to advocate for others or to ask for forgiveness. Ignorant & fear based actions have dire consequences but the unlearning should be an active process.

S.A. Cosby has easily become an auto-buy author. This book had my heart racing and left me bawling. Do yourself a favor & read it!

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anastasia_raf's review

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked this book very much. I found it entertaining, dark, realistic, hard and raw. It is very well crafted and interesting. The characters were complex and I appreciated how nuanced was the presentation of grief. It was very well handled in my opinion.

I also think that people give Buddy Lee too much gredit when he rarely stops himself from being an asshole.
Ike, I think you need to start appreciating your wife more.

There was one of many sentences that rubbed me the wrong way... But this one? Not a fan. ''Buddy Lee leaned against the sink. His chest was as tight as virgin pussy." Huh.

I want to believe that this book is supposed to be a punch in toxic masculinity's throat since all this happened because Cis-het (especially white,) man are insecure in their own sexuality and very existence,
BUT, I felt like queer people were just there to serve the plot. I felt their presence was "over-exploited." I get how and why they were important to the plot but they were also used as an excuse for "character growth." This book goes out of its way to show how these fathers were educated on these topics by their gay sons and queer people in general and yet does nothing to educate its audience and to lift up queer voices. Another perspective on the plot is that these two homophobic fathers used revenge as a way of absolving themselves of the guilt (about the awful treatment towards their sons and their ignorant ass towards queerness.) And yet, was it intentional? Or just...there? I think that's where the book lacked in a way. It's not clear on where it stands.

"Still, some of Cosby's other choices render this novel something short of a triumph. Queer people are central to the investigation and the story, but not a one has a particularly strong, fully realized voice of their own..." "Cosby also has straight people talking about LGBTQIA+ marginalization in conversations that sometimes sound preachy rather than organic. It's a jarring juxtaposition — having straight characters gain this growing awareness of and sensitivity to discrimination when the queer characters are marginalized in the narrative." By Carole V. Bell, a cultural critic and communication scholar focusing on media, politics and identity.

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alice2000's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

4.75

A tough, but page turning read. It was easy to figure out who the bad guy was however that didn't detract a bit from the story these characters had to tell.

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halfass_reviewer's review

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dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

A story about two grieving fathers trying to get answers about the deaths of their sons is not a story I knew I needed until I had it. (Despite it still taking me days to finish this novel) I couldn't put the book down. This is the kind of novel you read when you want to read about grief and how one person's personal beliefs can ruin relationships. I loved that the fathers, Ike and Buddy Lee, were constantly working through their homophobic ideology and it wasn't like "oh, all of a sudden our sons are dead and I no longer have a homophobic bone in my body." Their views about their sons and their son's lifestyle were constantly changing and getting better until the last page. I'm also glad that other minor characters in the book (friends/associates of the sons) frequently called both fathers out on their bullshit when the fathers tried to pretend they weren't the reason they didn't have a relationship with their sons. It was nice to see these friends still have Derek and Isiah (the sons) back even after their death. This was a great book and the only reason it didn't get five stars is because I had to read through all the racists and homophobic slurs. Also, Billy Lee repeatedly calling Mya (Isiah's mother) and some other women sis made me cringe and I wanted Mya to cuss him out so badly. Lastly, I knew he was going to die anyway (not the sons but another character) but he could've got one more future chapter first.

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legsonline's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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