Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

True Biz by Sara Nović

2 reviews

saucywench813's review

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was an amazing insight into the Deaf community and brought up various topics such as bodily autonomy. I do have my qualms, however. The ending felt strange (with I'm not faulting the book for, I'm just not used to open-ended stories), and I didn't like Slash and his goons as characters and didn't see how they were relevant. I also felt that the issue with February's marriage was never resolved and didn't like how the book tried to make the Charlie-Austin-Slash relationship polyamorous when Charlie never once talked about it with either guy beforehand. I fully fault the book and not the character for that as she wasn't really dating Slash, but I do have a problem with it as it feels like the book is trying to justify cheating by saying "it's just polyamory" when it's not. Not to mention that I don't like how the book handles Wanda because it seems like it was trying to say that Mel was being unreasonable in her jealousy just because Wanda was married to a man. Bi erasure alert, marrying a guy doesn't make Wanda straight and it wasn't unreasonable for Mel to ahve an issue with their relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Ableism, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Racism

includes a "faith healing" where

a kid's mom has pastors try to "heal" his Deafness by pouring oils in his ear that leave a scar on his face

alexafuson's review

challenging informative 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? No

4.0

This was such a beautiful coming of age story that explored the discrimination and lack of resources Deaf people face in education. As an educator, this hit really close to home. The story presented a variety of experiences within Deaf culture, and it was so informative. There were graphs on ASL, Deaf history lessons, and information on syntax, grammar, and other elements of ASL. The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars is because there were several biphobic comments from one of the main characters, and these were never addressed as being wrong. Also, the inclusion of BASL (Black American Sign Language) was brushed over quickly and in a way that sympathized with the white character who was called out. Also, the Black character in question hadn’t even been identified as Black until this moment, which made her feel like a token Black character to seem more inclusive. Other than that, this book was amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Ableism

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Biphobia