Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon

29 reviews

filo's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual assault

hameggs's review

hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

e_reader's review

emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book shattered my heart and put it back together again. Jonathan and Web’s story pulls at all of the heart strings, and I just wanted to give Jonathan a hug. The book ends with a little bit of hope and some tearful moments. 

In particular I found the conversion therapy and Web being Indigenous as central to the story and they definitely  add to the book. Contrary to what some people said, I actually really like this meandering style of writing, it gives it a poetic tone. And the imagery is just fantastic, don’t skip over the details. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Self harm and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

jellolord's review

emotional hopeful sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault

andrealeeeigh's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

sarahcherie's review

emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

I feel like one of the few who do not like this book. On the one hand, we have representation for Indigenous people, Black people, and gay people, which is always nice to see.

However, this book does fall victim to the "the bad guy is also secretly gay" trope TWICE, with Scott and Hal, and I think that trope can be very damaging.

And even though dealing with racism and homophobia was a major theme in this book, I couldn't help but feel like slurs and ignorance were thrown around TOO much, to the point where reading it no longer left a bad taste in my mouth, but just made me roll my eyes and skip ahead. I also was not particularly fond of the writing style or the pacing, as it took me forever to get into the book, and then it seemed that things started happening too quickly, especially at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Outing

Minor: Cursing, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

stegosaurus_babe's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

enduringtheunbearable's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual assault

ollieshark's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

at first i was unsure of how i'd feel about this novel because of how eccentric johnathan's voice is, but i'm so glad i stuck with it. i have a feeling this one will put me in a funk afterwards because it has so much heavy subject matter, but it's such an important read to understand how unaccepted gay men and native american peoples were even just in the 1970s.

the only thing i wish had been done differently or changed is that content warnings should probably be provided somewhere before chapter one starts. i had no idea what i was going into and i think my thoughts on the novel suffer a little as a result of being bombarded with johnathans's "treatments."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Hate crime

Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Police brutality, and Medical content

electroshock conversion therapy and its side effects are often mentioned, and a scene in which the main character endures an electroshock treatment is shown. lgbt+/gay slurs also show up on the page.