Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee

6 reviews

moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition

4.25

challenging reflective medium-paced

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This is a memoir of a trans man who decides to enter into amateur boxing for more perspective into traditional masculinity and to understand parts of himself. Boxing is pretty far outside of my typical wheelhouse, even if queer books and gender studies is right in the middle of it. So this was quite an interesting look into the inside of that as someone with very little knowledge of that component going in. 

There is a lot in here obviously about masculinity at large but even more compelling to me was how it all (masculinity as well as the experience of boxing) tied into the author's life. As McBee is unpacking masculinity and his relationship to it, he's also analyzing relationships past and present, working though grief, and processing his childhood abuse. This was really well put together and had a lot of great insight. 

This book does focus on a limited scope of masculinity, but the author clearly states his position socially (as white and cis-passing) and acknowledges how it's a different experience from others. He doesn't go far into detail on a lot of these points nor does he dig far into the class differences that he describes in the boxing gyms. This is a memoir - it makes sense that the scope would be limited, but it would have been interesting to see a bit more about this especially since he did pull from academic sources at other points in the book (and I enjoyed the discussion that he had in those sections).

Overall, I had a good time with this. It was well-written, interesting, and insightful. It grapples with a lot of big questions about masculinity, identity, and personal history in a really compelling way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Violence, Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault

oisinthewizard's review

3.5

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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As a gay trans man, this was a somewhat difficult read and showed me a gap in masculine experiences as shaped by sexuality and performance. While I found McGee's experiences almost entirely unrelatable, his writing is self reflective and offers insight into the pressures to perform a strictly heterosexual masculinity.

I was made deeply uncomfortable by the use of anti-gay male slurs and with the author's approach to the casual use of such slurs in all-male settings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Misogyny

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

5.0

challenging reflective medium-paced

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this book is so slim and yet holds so much weight goddamn this was just incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts

zombiezami's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Sexual harassment

smellie_reads's review

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

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An incredibly thoughtful book that helped me empathize with men in a way I have always had trouble accessing. Seamlessly integrates gender theory, but that's sort of a background for the really compelling relationships and visceral meditations on taking ownership of one's body. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Sexual assault

Minor: Transphobia

Notable TW is that brief mentions of sexual violence and child abuse are sprinkled throughout the book without much preamble, so if these topics impact you keeping a careful eye or having a friend read ahead could be helpful.

emfass's review

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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This was a Family Book Club read, suggested by my youngest sibling. I'm not sure I ever would have picked it up on my own, but wow. Wow wow wow. This is a wondrous, vulnerable, thought-provoking exploration of gender, masculinity, violence, loss, and self-actualization. Highly highly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault

Minor: Transphobia, Blood