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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
dnf @ 41%
Dnf'ing because it's too overwhelming for me, not because there's anything wrong with it.
Trigger warnings (through 41%):
Dnf'ing because it's too overwhelming for me, not because there's anything wrong with it.
Trigger warnings (through 41%):
Spoiler
alcoholism, racism, homophobia, internalized homophobia, conversion/shock therapy, homosexuality as a mental illness, self-harm
book wouldve been very great if there wasnt onomatopea every two words confusing the reader even more the second half was more bearable and truly made me enjoy the book but i didnt undeerstand the end
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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:
N/A
It's 1973, and seventeen-year-old Jonathan has been in electro-convulsive therapy for the mental illness of homosexuality for four years. When he meets Web, Jonathan can't help but begin to think there might not be anything wrong with him after all, despite the fact that just thinking about Web physically hurts.
An incredibly upsetting book, like... I can't bear to think of thirteen-year-olds being subjected to ECT for having been kissed by a boy. On the one hand, this is obviously an important part of recent history that I personally hadn't read anything about before. But the way it's explored in this novel really feels too brutally dark for the genre and target audience. To me, Jonathan's character arc felt drawn out for a long time, then the ending feels rushed and out of the blue. In general I found the 'whambamthankyouma'am' 70s inner dialogue so off-putting in style, and while reading I was uncomfortable with an author who isn't Native American employing racist language and explaining all about what it means to be Two-Spirit.
Content warnings: conversion therapy; racism; slurs; homophobia; homophobic and racist violence; sexual assault
An incredibly upsetting book, like... I can't bear to think of thirteen-year-olds being subjected to ECT for having been kissed by a boy. On the one hand, this is obviously an important part of recent history that I personally hadn't read anything about before. But the way it's explored in this novel really feels too brutally dark for the genre and target audience. To me, Jonathan's character arc felt drawn out for a long time, then the ending feels rushed and out of the blue. In general I found the 'whambamthankyouma'am' 70s inner dialogue so off-putting in style, and while reading I was uncomfortable with an author who isn't Native American employing racist language and explaining all about what it means to be Two-Spirit.
Content warnings: conversion therapy; racism; slurs; homophobia; homophobic and racist violence; sexual assault
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Medical trauma, Outing
Explicit detail about conversion therapy
Ziggy, Stardust & Me is honestly just one of those completely raw and profound reads that will leave you absolutely flabbergasted and lost for words in hands down, the best way possible. My heart ached throughout this journey, for me it just illustrated what was so horribly wrong with society and how their thoughts and blind beliefs poisoned LGBTQIA+ people, branding them as broken, as sick, purely for loving someone who’s the same gender as they are. It’s cruel and completely wrong that people are still having to feel broken and degraded because of their preferred choice of partner. It’s just so sad that throughout so many points in this book, main character Jonathan is compelled to feel completely broken, sick, messed up, just because he’s a young gay male. His Father, who should be nurturing him and loving him, makes him undertake electro shock therapy, to try and fix his sickness.
I will not even attempt to say Ziggy, Stardust & Me isn’t a hard book to read. It’s completely devastating theme-wise, for the reasons I’ve mentioned above. It also delves into the matter of race too, which is equally tragic how Native American/Indian were treated too. However, it’s completely educational in some factors too – I can’t believe I had never even heard about Two-Spirit Peoples, pillars of their communities, leaders and healers, balancing both Masculine and Feminine sides. I’d never really considered the pain that Native American Indian people were subjected to either, so I appreciate Ziggy, Stardust & Me for that added educational factor, too and I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Ziggy, Stardust and Me and learn something from it.
At every point throughout this book, I just felt so sad for young Jonathan. He struggles to come to terms with himself throughout the story, forced to undertake the monstrous therapy, hoping he’d be free of his illness, because he’s lead to believe that he must be the problem, he really must be sick and tainted. Jonathan longs to be cured, longs for normality and hopes he will be able to breathe in relief once his therapy rounds are complete, then everything will be okay.
I just wanted to completely envelope Jonathan in a hug! Not only does he feel the urge that he indeed does need fixing, but aside from his neighbour and closest friend, the effervescent Starla, who announces that she’s soon journeying away from Jonathan with her Parents for a while. With the revelation that his dearest friend will soon be apart from him, Jonathan can rely only on his Salvation, the Alter of whom he worships upon, that of none other than Ziggy Stardust himself. It’s the voice of Ziggy and Jonathan’s deadly departed Mother that guide him through his trying and stressful days, just wow. I was absolutely shattered throughout Jonathan’s journey and found myself putting down the book intermittently, purely because I found it so heart wrenching to read.
Ziggy, Stardust & Me is an easy 5 star read for me through, completely raw and powerful and completely profound, filled with evocative, lyrical, sometimes disjointed (all the more effective though given Jonathan’s inner torment given the cruelties he’s subjected to, as well as his completely conflicted feelings about the lovely Web, who explodes into his life like a firecracker and makes him feel many a feeling. Webb, the one person that Jonathan can possibly be himself around, Web, who is completely his unfiltered, unashamed self, unafraid to hide from the fact that he too is gay. I absolutely loved their first meeting in their high school bathroom and equally adored their subsequent scenes. Bonding over loved music, conjuring up dream-like worlds that they only inhabit. Honestly, pick up Ziggy, Stardust & Me. It’s easily one of my favourite reads of 2020.
I will not even attempt to say Ziggy, Stardust & Me isn’t a hard book to read. It’s completely devastating theme-wise, for the reasons I’ve mentioned above. It also delves into the matter of race too, which is equally tragic how Native American/Indian were treated too. However, it’s completely educational in some factors too – I can’t believe I had never even heard about Two-Spirit Peoples, pillars of their communities, leaders and healers, balancing both Masculine and Feminine sides. I’d never really considered the pain that Native American Indian people were subjected to either, so I appreciate Ziggy, Stardust & Me for that added educational factor, too and I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Ziggy, Stardust and Me and learn something from it.
At every point throughout this book, I just felt so sad for young Jonathan. He struggles to come to terms with himself throughout the story, forced to undertake the monstrous therapy, hoping he’d be free of his illness, because he’s lead to believe that he must be the problem, he really must be sick and tainted. Jonathan longs to be cured, longs for normality and hopes he will be able to breathe in relief once his therapy rounds are complete, then everything will be okay.
I just wanted to completely envelope Jonathan in a hug! Not only does he feel the urge that he indeed does need fixing, but aside from his neighbour and closest friend, the effervescent Starla, who announces that she’s soon journeying away from Jonathan with her Parents for a while. With the revelation that his dearest friend will soon be apart from him, Jonathan can rely only on his Salvation, the Alter of whom he worships upon, that of none other than Ziggy Stardust himself. It’s the voice of Ziggy and Jonathan’s deadly departed Mother that guide him through his trying and stressful days, just wow. I was absolutely shattered throughout Jonathan’s journey and found myself putting down the book intermittently, purely because I found it so heart wrenching to read.
Ziggy, Stardust & Me is an easy 5 star read for me through, completely raw and powerful and completely profound, filled with evocative, lyrical, sometimes disjointed (all the more effective though given Jonathan’s inner torment given the cruelties he’s subjected to, as well as his completely conflicted feelings about the lovely Web, who explodes into his life like a firecracker and makes him feel many a feeling. Webb, the one person that Jonathan can possibly be himself around, Web, who is completely his unfiltered, unashamed self, unafraid to hide from the fact that he too is gay. I absolutely loved their first meeting in their high school bathroom and equally adored their subsequent scenes. Bonding over loved music, conjuring up dream-like worlds that they only inhabit. Honestly, pick up Ziggy, Stardust & Me. It’s easily one of my favourite reads of 2020.
Jonathan's broken. But he knows that he can be fixed. That's why he goes through the painful treatments from his therapist Dr. Evelyn. But when he's paired with a new kid at school for a project, Jonathan starts to realize that these feelings he's having for Web won't go away. And he'll have to decide if he can stand up and show the world who he really is.
This is a brutal, beautiful story set on the precipice of change for the LGBTQ2+ community. Set in 1973, the year that homosexuality was finally removed from the DSM as a mental disorder, this is a story about a boy who was taught that he was broken who finally starts to really heal. Music pulses through the text - Jonathan is obsessed with Ziggy Stardust, a spaceman sent to earth to take care of lost children. Web is Oglala Lakota and to his family he is Two Spirit, a revered designation for people who are thought to straddle masculinity and femininity and have special healing powers.
There's a lot in here about activism and the issues that America was facing in 1973 and is still reckoning with. Web and his family were at the Wounded Knee occupation, Jonathan's best friend Starla goes to Washington DC for the summer and is involved in the women's liberation movement. Web faces racial discrimination, both in his hometown and in Missouri where his family is staying.
This is a brutal, beautiful story set on the precipice of change for the LGBTQ2+ community. Set in 1973, the year that homosexuality was finally removed from the DSM as a mental disorder, this is a story about a boy who was taught that he was broken who finally starts to really heal. Music pulses through the text - Jonathan is obsessed with Ziggy Stardust, a spaceman sent to earth to take care of lost children. Web is Oglala Lakota and to his family he is Two Spirit, a revered designation for people who are thought to straddle masculinity and femininity and have special healing powers.
There's a lot in here about activism and the issues that America was facing in 1973 and is still reckoning with. Web and his family were at the Wounded Knee occupation, Jonathan's best friend Starla goes to Washington DC for the summer and is involved in the women's liberation movement. Web faces racial discrimination, both in his hometown and in Missouri where his family is staying.
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this book, but the abrupt ending killed me. Web's family was truly the best and I loved how this book mentioned two-spirit people.