Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Orpheus Girl

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

103 reviews

hannahyorkey's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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entre_paginas_infinitas's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed some parts of this books. The things people do to the characters are atrocious, and I felt sad at some point. Raya was left alone in many ways. Thinking that this had happened in rea life makes me sadder.

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gothic_moss's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was absolutely crushing. It's horrible to know that in 2024, conversion therapy is still legal in 3 U.S states (including texas), and is still practiced in many states that have banned it. Conversion therapy is something I never knew much about, and often didn't look into because the idea of it was so gross and disturbing. Reading 'Orpheus Girl' was a great way for me to gain perspective on the practice, and it's impact on LGBT+ youth.
As a queer person, I found this book very similar to my experiences. The way themes of identity and girlhood were tackled felt very genuine and raw, which I resonated with a lot. My one critique is that a lot of the characters were based upon stereotypes, but they weren't upsetting or rude.
Loved the character index at the end as well! I love a good mythology re-telling!
(Check TW before reading!!!)

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lorieneve's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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zinelib's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I appreciate the premise and weight of this book, but the Orpheus story was too much work.

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dopestitches's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense

3.5

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teniamonet's review

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dark emotional sad 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

4.5

“You were supposed to be my second chance”

This was such a heart wrenching and emotional listen that left me with a heavy feeling in my chest. Orpheus Girl is supposed to be a modern retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. I don’t think there’s any real comparison here but Raya’s obsession with Greek mythology was definitely a way for her to cope with her life.

A great listen and I loved the story. While this was fictional, this is a reality for a lot of queer kids. I would recommend this to others to read, but would warn them it can be extremely heavy and triggering.

The “treatments” were so inhumane and I had to stop listening at times. The fact that Raya was completely losing herself down to the connection she was trying to keep to the mother who abandoned her.

Timeline does get a little funky, but I attribute that to the fact that Raya is the narrator and through being at this conversion camp and all the treatments she loses herself and her grasp on reality.

“You know, the thing about family is that you can choose it. And I choose you.”

Cried at the end of this.

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apollo0325's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

With every action they make to take away your rights, they adopt an air of phony shame, as if they actually cared about the consequences of their beliefs.

This book was absolutely heart-wrenching, and the fact it was/is the reality of queer kids is even worse. Despite the best efforts, people still think queers are an illness, something that can be ‘cured’ when this is who we are. So many drape their homophobia with religion too.

This book is H E A V Y and even so, it’s an understatement. It’s important but difficult and necessary to have queer books centered on subject matter like this. Every queer story doesn’t end in a happily ever after.

Framing it within Greek mythology adds another layer of interest and way to connect to Raya’s journey. It also felt like a coping mechanism for Raya which is a common trend among queers (shout out to my PJO queers, ayyy).

My only critique of this book is the lack of understanding of time passing. It feels like SO MUCH has happened but then Raya mentions being dropped off four days ago? It felt a bit unclear. Then again, this may have been an intentional choice by the author to show even Raya has no concept of time and self in the latter half of the book.

Lastly, I implore anyone wanting to read this book to PLEASE LOOK AT TRIGGER WARNINGS. This book does not fuck around. For real.

“You know, the thing about family is that you can choose it. And I choose you.”

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ellefrost64's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

I'm sure this is a good book somewhere. I split it into half because it did get too heavy for one sitting. It's not really anything similar to Orpheus and Eurydice.

Char is fucking awful I don't care she has enough trauma to kill a horse (ha), that's not an excuse to turn around and administer electro shock treatment. Like if anyone deserves to get their ass beaten it's her and hyde, but especially her. Also agree with another reviewer like why did the one singular trans character have to have the suicide attempt in graphic detail? I'm not sure. I know this book is true to life in places like this but goddamn it is just one onslaught of trauma after another and it's exhausting. And the wings try to be moments of lightness among it all but it didn't work for me.

. I hope this book helps someone, but it just made me exhausted and mad.

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vaughtgn's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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