Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

48 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

My ex bought me this for our one month anniversary and I finally read it two years later hoping the book would be bad so I could give it away but it was so good! So cue so sweet. I shall be keeping it.

I was so sure that The Outsiders wasn't canon in this world and then she mentioned it! It's nitpicky but naming yourself after Ponyboy is much cooler than just naming yourself after an animal randomly. That boy got to senior year and didn't read The Outsiders?! It's so gay he would've loved it.

A great book for explaining what a trans person is to kids / teens. It has a perfect mixture of people familiar with the world and explaining to someone who knows nothing. Great writing. I laughed a plenty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, and Outing

Moderate: Sexual violence, Vomit, Deadnaming, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infidelity and Abandonment

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Hate crime, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, and Transphobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Alcoholism, Suicide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Murder, Excrement, Sexual content, Biphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Vomit

use of f slur

grace_koalateareads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative tense 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? Yes

3.5

“We can’t change those people’s minds. We just love louder and harder than they can hate.”

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith was a difficult  yet important read. The story is split into Pony’s (a trans boy) and Georgia’s (a cis girl) point of view. Both are seniors at a Texas high school just outside of Dallas. For Pony it’s all about going “stealth” and just being a normal guy, for Georgia it’s about cheerleading and being the person people expect her to be. I loved both of them so much, they had great personalities and felt real and genuine. I loved the puns, the banter and the deep and meaningful conversations. 

“When the school treats trans students like they’re different, it gives the green light for the other kids to do the same, but kids are way meaner.”

The side characters were where my discomfort started, especially with Max, Pony’s “out and proud” best friend, who came across very “black and white” and wanting him to share things on social media that made him feel uncomfortable. I know the ending sort of cleared those things up, but it felt too rushed and too shiny (or gold, if you will) like it wasn’t real.  Being “out and proud” is great, it’s awesome, but not if it isn’t safe to do so. It also made me uncomfortable with the amount of trans and queer slurs, especially as they didn’t need to be written down to get the point across.

“Some days, I barely think about being trans. And other days, it’s an obstacle course.”

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, just not as much as I was expecting. A lot of really heavy topics were covered, such as transphobia, misgendering and forced outting - these weren’t the reason for my lower rating, but more how they were handled/written especially when a character was the one causing said topics. I was definitely hooked and finished the book in just over a day. It’s one that I think a lot of people, who don’t understand what being trans means, should read, however, overall it just made me feel drained.

“I raise my glass in toast and say (but not too loudly, “Here’s to being trans in Texas.””

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Emotional abuse, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Bullying

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Medical content, Vomit, Drug use, and Grief

wrinnola's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Body shaming, and Hate crime

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Deadnaming, Lesbophobia, Outing, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

maxmaxmax's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child abuse, Medical content, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, and Suicidal thoughts

luxxltyd's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Hate crime, and Outing

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Deadnaming

whosfernn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I knew almost nothing about this book when I picked it up. Looking at the cover and the blurb, I assumed it would be a cute coming-of-age romance. What it actually is is probably the best, most moving tale of a trans boy I've ever read. It's a very realistic look at the trans experience, especially how it can be to be trans in southern America. Beautiful. One of my favourites, probably my favourite read of 2023 so far. Please read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Medical content, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Drug use, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Bullying

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, and Religious bigotry

journey2's review against another edition

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

Sometimes I need to take my own advice. If you are not loving a book...it's okay to quit it. And you probably should. 
 But I wanted to see how it ended. 

~☆~ minor spoilers~☆~ 

Stay Gold was not a good read for me. I found this book frustrating. The characters annoyed me and everyone seemed extremely superficial. 

Pony is relentless about the "friend zone" thing with Georgia. She continues to say no to his advances and he continues to pursue. Yes, she likes him, but she has clearly said no and he will not give up and keeps asking for more; including love bombing her with a grand gesture, until he can eventually win her over. 

Our main love interest, Georgia, is so obsessed with her image and social standing right til nearly the end and her change of heart is supposed to be endearing, but by the time we got there I was just so tired of how fake she was. 

I know that in high school everybody's figuring out who they are and who they want to be, but absolutely every character was so fake and two dimensional. In the end, superficial apologies and excuses like "it's just locker room talk" etc seem to 'fix' every off-colour comment or remark. Pony's dad was absolutely horrible to him throughout the entire book and his mom was kind of just complacent and didn't fight for him. A couple sentences at the very end of the book are supposed to redeem him but they just felt forced. Even though lots of things ended up being happy or at least happier, I found this book extremely problematic, frustrating and annoying and I do not recommend it. 

I'm curious as to what the purpose of the storyline about Pony's job served. It didn't really go anywhere except to allow Pony to be nosy and intrusive into somebody else's business and then he got to have a warm fuzzy feeling afterwards. On that note, Pony continued to stick his nose into business that is not his own and it was very annoying. There was a time when Pony and Georgia stuck their noses into something so personal that I actually took time away from the book because I was  exasperated. He was rewarded for it eventually, but it was annoying to read. 

This book was 100% not for me and was just completely filled with red flags.
 I could go on, but I won't! 

Also it's list of trigger warnings is a mile long

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Drug use

stailysh1's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I think this book is great for what it is.  It reads like it was the author's high school fantasy, but in the case of this book, I believe that's excusable because this book could really help a lot of people who need it.  It shows the mentality behind being both in and out of the closet and focuses on visibility.  The ending kind of pushes being out and visible, which I find challenging because that is not safe or desired by everyone who is part of the LGBT+ community, especially transgender individuals.  The main characters are generally lovable and funny, and work through their flaws and grow together.  All in all, it's an enjoyable and (mostly) light read that should be taken for what it is: a YA LGBT+ novel with a happy ending.  
**Please read the content warnings before diving into this book.**

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Outing, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol

rebecca_simard's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

DNF at 146. I wanted to like this book, the setting of a high school romance is a classic for a reason and I'm a sucker for any LGBT representation that was lacking in my own youth, especially when written by queer authors, but this one just didn't do it for me.
For starters, the characterization is abysmal, this might improve throughout the book but by 1/3rd of the way in we should have at least a few likable characters. The female lead suffers from "not like other girls" symptom, being the cheerleader who secretly is into important things like reading and journalism. Good basis for a character but it is used as a way to show how she is better than the other girls. Not a fan. The male lead has some internalized misogyny when it comes to her "not like other girls" isms as well. How exciting is it that there's actually a cheerleader worth his time and who isn't an idiot? While the best friend, Max, did not make a lot of appearances so far, reviews suggest that he is also a prominent character and his only scene so far had me cringing.
This leads to my next point, that the dialogue is bland and filled with long outdated phrases and references to try and sell the youth of the characters, obvi girl, 10 pride flag emojis. This is both emersion-breaking and difficult to read.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the plotline of a trans character being pressured by their support network to come out because not doing so is dishonest is concerning. Trans people do not owe anyone a description of their genitals as a means to promote honesty. One's medical history is theirs and theirs alone to disclose. I hope no trans or queer youth feel pressured by this rhetoric.
In summary, I had high hopes and I hope that the author continues to write as trans voices are vital, now more than ever. The blurb is good, showing that McSmith has good stories to tell. I hope they refine their characterization and writing style and move away from the overdone at best and problematic at worst pressure to come out stories. It's a good premise, but the execution needs work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Bullying, Outing, and Suicidal thoughts