Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

8 reviews

callidoralblack's review against another edition

reflective

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Racial slurs, Medical content, and Racism

kteliza28's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

Really enjoyed this memoir about growing up black and queer. The first 2/3 of this book were the best: the childhood upbringing, growing into oneself and trying to understand identity, family dynamics and dealing with hate in all its forms (especially the emphasis on micro aggressions). It was actually the most informative part for me, especially the un-learning of what we’ve been taught in our history classes. This story was different to me because not everything was a struggle. At first I was so surprised that the authors family was pretty much fully supportive from the get go (some members more than others but mostly supportive). You read books like this and think everything has to be a downhill battle the whole time and how the author preserved and came out of it heroic, but it was a really nice change of pace to hear the story of someone who didn’t have it all bad but still dealt with very negative things and also still hasn’t figured everything out yet. As someone not black and not gay, reading someone’s story of sexuality and their feelings around sex in general was actually something I could connect with. I do think this book kinda loses me a little around the time the author goes to college. There were some elements of the story that played into the theme of the book but at times felt like I was just hearing a day to day recall of a pretty mundane college life. But maybe that’s the point. Again, you don’t need to struggle 100% of the time or have a drama filled life 100% of the time to write about it. This is not to detract from what the author went through. There are MANY times throughout this memoir where I was shaking my head in sadness and disgust for what he went through. But there was hope and happiness here too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Drug use, and Deadnaming

dannothedino's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Cancer, Medical content, Outing, and Transphobia

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Slavery, and Police brutality

caprichosbooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

One of those books you might end by saying...why didn't I read this sooner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Grief, Deadnaming, and Racism

cherrypiejay's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This beautifully written book definitely comes with many content warnings for various types of SA, grooming, and trauma. 

I listened to the audiobook, lovingly narrated by the author. It’s such a gritty, raw, honest story about a queer youth finding himself, and I enjoyed every minute of it - even though some bits were tough to get through due to being quite triggering. It’s an important story that needs to be shared.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Death

skudiklier's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

I think this memoir will be really helpful for a lot of people, and I'm very glad it was written. I'm also glad I read it. However, the writing was not very good; I feel bad saying this, and this is the first book in a very long time where I would actually say something like that. I think the structure of the book was sort of a mess, and so much of it was really on the nose. "Here's a story that I'm going to tell in a roundabout way as if it's not planned out ahead of time, and now here's how I connect this to broader society/gender/identity/etc." Again, I think this book will be great for some young people figuring out their identity on multiple levels. And it's not like it was written terribly or anything--but I haven't read a book written this poorly in a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Outing, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Fatphobia

_malia_pt's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, and Sexual assault

sweetmusic22's review

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Grief, Incest, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Rape

Moderate: Racism and Homophobia

I've heard a lot of great things about this book. There are very few memoirs that I like to read. This was one of them. I loved how George talked about his own lived experience of what it's like to be a black gay man. He explores gender identity, family bonding, brotherhood, toxic masculinity, intersectionality, consent, black-joy, and marginalization, all in a series of essays. I think this is a great book (not just for teens) but for anybody who wants to learn how to be better allies, not just for the black community, but the LGHBTQ+ community too.