Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

8 reviews

bg_oseman_fan's review

emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

this book was everything. it was so heartfelt and funny. loved the characters. loved the things i saw coming as much as the things i didn’t. a great coming of age story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

nenaveenstra's review

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

I think this book has the potential to change the lives of a lot of teens, but only if they don’t get to Adam Silvera’s and Becky Albertalli’s work first. 

It took a while for me to get into this book. For the first three quarters, it felt like an nth iteration of a book I’d read before: closeted queer kid doesn’t communicate with anyone, jumps to all the wrong conclusions and is surprised when things turn out differently than expected. I found the plot/character beats highly predictable, the lack of communication incredibly irritating, and the characters very flat. Especially the main character - I found myself thinking multiple times that I was much more interested in Cesar’s perspective than his sister, Yami’s. 

I think my main gripe with this book is that it’s inconsistent. There’s a lot of loose ends here; story arcs that never get resolved, characters that get introduced but never get their on-screen moment, and character relationships that don’t really make sense.

Like the fact that Yami didn’t see how much Cesar was struggling, when they’re supposedly such close siblings. What happened to telepathy?

The book started off with a job hunt, the significance of which was unclear by the end of the book. Yami’s ex-best friend came to visit a couple of times, but they never got the chance to talk. Stuff like that. 

That being said, the last 25% of this book was really cute.

I like that Yami obviously grew as a person, being able to stand up for herself and Bo, and that she got to have her happy ending. I’m glad she opened up to Bo about everything that happened with Bianca, and Cesar’s suicide attempt.

I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read this book, but I just don’t think it adds much to the literary landscape of queer YA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Self harm

Minor: Body shaming

lemoni's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Biphobia, Self harm, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Deportation

Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

megbert581's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad fast-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

5.0

😭😭😍😍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Bullying and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

levitatingnumeral's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School manages to touch on some really tough topics with grace and seriousness while being a light and pleasant read.
It’s truly lovely, I didn’t want to put it down and the characters are so well fleshed out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Deportation

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia

emily_mh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

I don’t really feel capable of giving a proper, detailed review of this book because I am simply in awe of it. Just know that it is a perfect book about queerness, lesbians pining for each other, a gorgeous sibling relationship, celebrating every part of who you are, complicated families, mental health, the trauma of religious bigotry, being Brown and queer in a majority allocishet white space, forced separation from family, relearning to trust, rebonding with loved ones, simple and massive moments of joy, and ultimately, hope. I loved reading every second of it. 

My favourite quote was: “I can’t make him love himself. The closest I can get is loving myself unapologetically right in front of him.” 

Rep: lesbian Chicana MC, lesbian Chinese-American LI, bisexual Chicano SC, Native American (Navajo) SC, queer Black SC 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Deportation

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: forced separation from family, disownment, suicidal ideation Minor: loss of a loved one, colourism, one use of the Spanish homophobic m-slur, one use of the lesbophobic d-slur

cecerosa's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Police brutality, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion