Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

20 reviews

jo_22's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Awesome book- I loved the Minnesota setting and that it was centered around the supper club. Did a great job shifting character perspectives and time periods and it was really wholesome. Themes/focus areas of family & generations, small town culture, hardship & hope. I do wish there was a bit more parts tying some plot points together (ex.

Have Ned reflect on Mariel’s death or convo of Ned talking to Julia about Gus. More of Florence and Mariel after they reconcile, etc

) however @ the same time I do think there was strength and effectiveness in not focusing so much on the dynamics between characters after plot points occur and more focused on how each character deals with / lives their life with the weight/gifts/hopes of past generations. Plus it aligns well with the Midwestern/Minnesotan way of “things we don’t talk about”. 
I loved the last page— and overall the book made me reflect on and appreciate my family & generations before me. 
Really well-written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, Classism, and Homophobia

librarianjennifer's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Child death, and Miscarriage

purplepenning's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Gaslighting, Child death, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Infertility, Cancer, Death, Grief, Homophobia, and Miscarriage

Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Blood, and Car accident

karolinez's review

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Child death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Cancer

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book, and I was impressed at how the author could so intimately describe the characters' emotions. It was also a really complex look at the characters, which made them feel really human. People are extremely imperfect and make mistakes that hurt people, but we can't easily put them into boxes that are as simple as "good" and "bad." Will definitely read this author again. He had some really good turns of phrase.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Infertility, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Outing, and Homophobia

fuguballoon's review

I had to stop reading after the

second outing

(homophobia). It was too upsetting.

This is a character-driven novel, but ironically, most of the reader's insight into the characters comes via external action. I think the author was much better at writing Ned, the main male character, than any of the women. Some of the women's choices just didn't have the same clear motivations as Ned, and their characters were less consistent. (My pet peeves were Betty and Florence, who both read as classic narcissistic parents, but magically became thoughtful when it was convenient to the story, which--if you know any real narcissistic parents--is not a thing.)

Even so, this book wasn't badly written on a craft level. I just couldn't stomach the homophobia, and from reading the other reviews, it sounds like it was only going to get bleaker the rest of the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Outing, and Homophobia

Minor: Domestic abuse

sydneynorman's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage and Alcohol

Minor: Violence, Cancer, and Homophobia

kyriannaj's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Completely disregard the summary. It doesn't accurately set the book up, and having read and expected that to be what was delivered, I spent the first 100 pages confused and frustrated that what I was promised was no where to be found. However, after that 100 pages? I fell in love. I was fascinated by the characters, their choices, their development, everything. Ned was a confusing character to me and I have mixed feelings on him. His relationship with Mariel also perplexed me. To me though, Florence stole the show. Her innate humanity throughout, the good choices, bad decisions, compromises, consequences, successes, and changes throughout her life were the heart of the book. I felt the ending was rushed and st uggling to figure out a way to wrap it up. I think it would've benefitted from another few chapters to really finalize and let the ending build.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Outing, Pregnancy, Infertility, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Death of parent, Car accident, Death, and Child abuse

sarah2's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed the structure of this novel.  The intertwining character POVs and time jumps helped to create fully realized characters whom I wanted to spend time with.  There were some abrupt character development moments in the last third of the book that felt somewhat jarring, but the emotional payout made up for those moments.  I also feel like J. Ryan Stradal does such a great job at establishing place.  The atmosphere and characters were familiar to anyone who has spent time in a small Midwestern town.  Overall I really enjoyed this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Homophobia and Domestic abuse

karlymarcy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

Minor: Homophobia and Cancer