Reviews tagging 'Outing'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

30 reviews

katiescott's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body shaming, Abandonment, Confinement, Miscarriage, Torture, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Animal death, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Violence

twistedserval's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Transphobia, Abortion, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Violence, Torture, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, Outing, Pedophilia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Body horror, Child death, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical content, and Pregnancy

lokes's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

They must have convinced themselves that they would never rot in the same dirt we do.

This book has left me carved out and cut open, lovingly handing me the needle to stitch myself together - and I devoured it.

I already loved Hell Followed With Us, but this book just had it all. The queer characters, the very gory descriptions, the fury and rebellious spirits and the love each of the characters held for each other. There were a few plot lines I would have liked to read more about, like the sanatorium, the relics, the way historic colonialism by the UK was adapted into the fantasy/horror context, more in-depth exploration of the anti-autistic ableism and general sexism of the time, & etc. But I guess that’s to blame on the „YA“ part of the book 😅) 
Even though the story meant to rip you apart, ask you to just let go and give into the graphic descriptions of medical horror, of a society not so much different from our own, the book was weirdly comforting. At times, I definitely felt a bit squeamish (never thought I’d read a really graphic, long description of an at-home Caesarian abortion, but here we are), but it was definitely one of the most beautiful things I’ve read lately. Because it is truly okay to hurt sometimes. And it is okay to slash back when the rabbit-hearted heart screams to just amputate the parts society doesn’t like to see on (young) people. 

And oh, how they fought back.

(Also loved the very trans* main characters and their love story. Same with the (female) rage and the portrayal of a small rebellion, starting in the very walls meant to keep them silent.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Gore, Abortion, Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Ableism, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Death, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Child abuse, Body horror, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexism, Torture, Classism, Eating disorder, Outing, Blood, Domestic abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

lila_still_reads's review

dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

 I had three separate friends recommend this book to me and they were correct that I’d love it. One of the protagonists of the play I wrote for my senior thesis is a transmasculine, neurodivergent medical student in 1850s Massachusetts and the play overall touches on some similar themes around body, agency, and the historic use of pseudo-science as a tool for oppression- though without the supernatural twist. I share Andrew Joseph White’s inclination towards gory metaphor to put to words the horror of existing as a trans and neurodivergent person in a hostile world and seeing those thoughts, feelings, and fears reflected back in a book like this still is so rare and special. 

White also excels at writing YA with cross-age appeal; he writes a young protagonist dealing with concerns particular to growing up with a thoughtful and well-crafted narrative voice that respects a younger reader and is welcoming to an older one. 

White is also not afraid to write complex characters. The women hospitalized alongside Silas are not one dimensional, they are not even all ‘good’ people, but this is used to add depth to the story and the world rather than to demonize them. One character in particular does some reprehensible things but is never reduced to one-dimensional evil pick-me; the pressure and environment that led her to choosing to act how she does is more important than one individual’s actions and that was so refreshing (and much more interesting!) to read. 

The romance wasn’t too heavy, which made sense given the plot, but what was included was so very sweet and fit nicely into the story’s themes of the power of our perception of each other. The horror elements were visceral and the imagery around eyes and rabbits in particular were especially haunting. 

Some little things: 

Clothing details! I love clothing, I love 19th century fashion in particular and it’s surprisingly rare for authors to get it right- fashion changed decade by decade back then too and yep, this is bustle central. 

This is a time period and subject matter I know A LOT about and it’s very easy for me to get annoyed by inaccuracies around it (I recognize that this is often unreasonable, but it’s still true). I didn’t get annoyed with this book! The fantasy element built so beautifully upon the historical ones, allowing for some suspension of disbelief, and there was clear thought and intent behind the world-building. 

Anyway, loved this book. It’s already on the part of my bookshelf reserved for favorites. Reading it coincided with getting good news about my own piece of trans-centered medical historical fiction, so it also feels like a good luck charm. Nothing but love for the Spirit Bares Its Teeth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, Abortion, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Outing, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Ableism, Sexual violence, Gore, and Mental illness

brickwall27's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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? No

5.0

This book made me cry happy tears I love it and the representation it's the first book I've read with a happy ending for the queer character 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Body horror, Gore, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Transphobia, Pregnancy, Ableism, Deadnaming, Death, and Abortion

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Animal death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Child death

This book is good but if you are easily upset by anything tread carefully

This book was a little harder of a read for me but in the end, it was so good I started crying. The author is a wonderful man who is writing from experience (sorta)there are super hard scenes that include: the brother turning out to be evil, throwing kids off stairs, live dissections of girls, ripping out eyes to make a wife submit, pissed dead victims, lots violence towards women, overall a good but hard read

remescient's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is a devastating, heart wrenching, wonderous thing. I am adding it to my list of absolute favorite books of all time. I love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Sexual violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Outing, Rape, Sexism, Murder, and Sexual assault

Please please please read the content warnings, as many extremely violent, horrible things happen, and it might be a very difficult read for some. It's a very good book but very dark.

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Confinement, Mental illness, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Gore, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Outing, Pedophilia, Ableism, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Grief

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Blood, Outing, Body horror, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Physical abuse

vixenreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

The YA troupes are a bit more evident in this book than in the author’s previous work. However, it is a remarkable second novel with an effective plot structure, atmospheric from beginning to end, visceral in the horrors of what can be done to a human being (mind, body, and soul), and a big high-five for diving into the ableism directed towards the autistic while giving them the direction in learning how to shut up their own internal rabbits. Also, “George, we were all rooting for you! HOW DARE YOU!!!”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death, Child death, Body shaming, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Deadnaming, Abortion, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Torture, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Outing, Classism, Sexual violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual content, War, Rape, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

A majority of graphic content in this novel addresses transphobia, abhorrent ableism against autistic folks, misogyny/sexism (the “biology” argument), nasty surgeries, medical content and trauma, physical abuse and violence, and sexual abuse. Any minor in the novel is aged 14-16. It also features familial rejection, pus, stitching up wounds, a graphic abortion, self-mutilation, execution, and a ton of injuries and gore involving glass. It can be a hard read at times.

anarmandameg's review

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dysphoria, Torture, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Death, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Gore, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment