Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

True Biz by Sara Nović

6 reviews

liesbethvv's review

challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I am very grateful for this book. It’s eye-opening and very informative. Although the informational bits interrupted the pace a bit, I didn’t really mind. It felt true to form to feel like an outsider for once, having to learn things to fully understand the setting and characters. As we are fed little bits of the characters’ struggles in their different parts of the Deaf community, we are immersed in a different world, that should very much be more intertwined with ours. Thanks to Sara, I’m now much more aware of the struggles and possible solutions that could be put in place for everyone’s sake, not just the hearing world’s. Also curious to read more of Sara’s work. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy, Racism, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Child death, Car accident, Bullying, and Vomit

corriejn's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Ableism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual harassment, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, and Child death

thehmkane's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

4.75

Nigh perfect. Absolutely fascinating audiobook, too - the author recorded the sounds the signs make, and the sound plays as the dialog is read, to indicate a character is signing. I'm definitely going to need to check out a print copy, too.

I picked this up at the recommendation of Deaf, deaf, and hearing friends, but the Deaf endorsement meant the most to me. I'm pretty savvy to a lot of the history, but I learned a lot from this book. I appreciated the diversity within the school, and the diversity of perspectives presented. It didn't shy away from depicting difficult situations and complex dynamics.

An important contribution to the canon. Now can we get more Deaf books?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Ableism, and Car accident

Moderate: Drug use, Bullying, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Homophobia, Classism, Racism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Hate crime, and Genocide

Minor: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Forced institutionalization

lacey_wi's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

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.

---

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

scatfloyd's review

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

I really really enjoyed this book! I felt like it was an extremely educational representation of deaf culture, however I am not deaf or hard of hearing so I can only speak from a hearing experience!

I really liked all the different topics this book explored: racism in the deaf community, the ethical considerations of cochlear implants, what a failed implant can do to affect patients, the historic and current movements to eradicate deaf culture, and more. I also liked the "lesson plans" included at the end of chapters, it was a neat way to include more education resources, to make me think of how the world is set up to exclude deaf people, and how to sign a few words! I know some people don't like lack of quotation marks, but speaking convos in this book did not have them! I normally wouldn't like this, but I thought it was interesting in the context of the deafness and of how Charlie struggled to distinguish speaking conversations. As a reader it almost make the spoken words disappear a little bit which felt true to the character's experiences IMO! 

This book reminded me of Parachutes by Kelly Yang; it touches on a lot of different aspects of deaf culture without really diving into one topic in huge detail. I will say that it was more of an exploration of identity and a representation of different identities within deaf community with the plot falling more to secondhand! I don't think this is something negative, but rather something readers should know before going into it with different expectations!! 

I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking to expand your reading choices to include more deaf and/or disability representation or if you want to learn some more about deaf culture! 

PUB DATE: 04/05/2022. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC! 

a few CW/TW: homophobia (minor), death of a parent (graphic), repeated ableism (moderate), toxic evangelicalism (one instance, graphic), dementia (moderate), racism (minor/moderate), teen bullying (minor), medical malpractice (graphic), medical trauma (graphic)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Ableism

Moderate: Racism and Dementia

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Bullying