Reviews tagging 'Torture'

True Biz by Sara Nović

9 reviews

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-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

3.5

I received a copy of this book as a gift.
"True Biz" is a story that follows several students, and the headmistress, at a school for deaf students. The students at River Valley School for the Deaf just want to act like every other teenager in the world. February, the headmistress, is fighting to keep the school open, because she knows how important a school like this is for deaf students. Charlie is a transfer student who has never spent much time with other deaf people. Austin is trying to come to terms with the fact that his baby sister was just born and can hear, despite being born into a predominantly deaf family.
I believe this is the first novel I have read that has deaf representation. I found the commentary on ableism and racism associated with American Sign Language to be fascinating, and something that I had never really thought about. When segregation was still mandated, there were separate deaf schools for those who were white versus black. Because of this separation, American Sign Language developed differently, and some signs actually mean different things depending on which community the person is a part of. I always thought American Sign Language was seen as a universal language, and it was really eye-oping to realize it is not, and it too suffered from racism.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and themes in this book more than the characters. I think it was great that we got to read from a few different perspectives, and they all had a different relationship towards being deaf or the deaf community in general, but I was not overly invested in any specific character's story. I think all of the characters represent an important experience, but as a whole, I did not find any of them especially interesting.
I think this is a great story, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read about deaf characters or who wants to read a story about human connection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Torture, and Ableism

Moderate: Pregnancy and Racism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

leaflit's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Ableism

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Drug use, Bullying, and Racism

paigedent's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

It’s an interesting perspective on deaf culture. Didn’t like the dark teen stuff of them doing a bunch of bad things. It also had no ending at all which was disappointing a lot of build up and then there was nothing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Torture, Racism, and Cursing

kaitlinlovesbooks's review

emotional funny hopeful informative 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Torture

Minor: Toxic relationship and Vomit

eicart_reads's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Car accident, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

Additional content warning that is difficult to classify: This contains a scene of the attempt to "heal" a deaf person by a faith healing at a conservative, evangelical church. It includes a brief but intense description of

forcibly holding the person down while they beg for help, to be released. They do not want to be healed, and they are injured during this torturous attempt.

town_scar's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, and Grief

cozyreadsandcoffee's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

I think this should be required reading for everyone to understand the struggles of the deaf community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Gore, Bullying, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Torture, Murder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Drug use, Car accident, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Death, Racism, Violence, and Classism

lyss_reads's review

emotional informative reflective

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Torture, and Ableism

clevelandbookgirl's review

informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Dementia, Violence, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Death

Minor: Torture and Blood