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wilybooklover's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, and Ableism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Classism, and Sexual assault
unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Sexual content, and Ableism
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual harassment
maeverose's review against another edition
2.5
I’m not deaf myself, and as far as I know neither is the author so I can’t say if the rep is good or not, however I didn’t notice anything harmful and felt like the author did her research. However, this book has both intentional ableism that you’re supposed to disagree with, and some probably unintended ableism towards autistic people. People often assume Oliver is ‘an imbecile’ (a slur for autistic or intellectually disabled people that would’ve been used at the time), and he’s offended by this in a way that frames being autistic as something to be ashamed of. Like, ‘he’s deaf not an ~imbecile~’. Christina actually says that exact quote replacing ‘imbecile’ with ‘deformed’, as well. I find it annoying that historical fiction often uses ableist language like that just because it was common at the time. It doesn’t need to be there, the story would be the same without it, just less offensive. Especially in a book that’s supposed to have positive disability rep, it irked me that there was still uncorrected ableist language.
Christina seemed very naive for her age, even if she did have a more isolated upbringing. I wished she stood up to her mother sooner, especially once she was safe no longer living with her. It almost made the book feel YA if it weren’t for the sex scenes.
As for Oliver, I liked him for the most part. I liked how his being deaf was explored, especially within that time period. There was at least one or two times where he got physically aggressive when mad (slamming his fist on a table), which irks me. But otherwise he was very sweet for most of the book, despite being a bit of a grump in the beginning.
This might just be personal preference but I didn’t like the conflict at the end
Graphic: Violence, Ableism, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
Minor: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape
On the rape and sexual assault: it’s only mentioned as a possibility of something that could happen, it doesn’t actually happen.shewritesinmargins's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse
Hawkes goes to an asylum.fairyfaum's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Ableism and Forced institutionalization