Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

49 reviews

gothic_moss's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Outing, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Moderate: Vomit and Torture

Minor: Suicide attempt and Abandonment

lorieneve's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Outing

teniamonet's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Car accident, and Deadnaming

ellefrost64's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Deadnaming

pick a trigger warning and assume it's included here, including electroshock therapy, conversion camps,

thatchickengirl23's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Suicide, Self harm, Abandonment, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Blood, and Deadnaming

maisiemoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

3.25

This was the heaviest book I’ve ever read and I think it’s going to take a while to leave me.

This book succeeds in portraying the horrifying reality of conversion therapy and made me feel so appreciative of the support network I’ve had since coming out, because not everyone is that fortunate.

I really thought that there would be more parallels to mythology in terms of the plot. I felt like the metaphors could have been taken further, but that’s just my personal opinion.

At some points I found Raya’s recollection of her childhood quite repetitive. I felt like, although she was telling different stories, they all ended with the same point about her grandmother not wanting her and her feeling inadequate. Personally, I found these snippets of her past didn’t really add much to the narrative.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style of the author, but I found the overall plot very hard-hitting. It was a difficult read, and I’d urge people to take care when reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Abandonment, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Outing, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence

rubadubindabathtub's review

challenging dark hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Outing, Medical content, Violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Drug use, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Transphobia, Homophobia, Vomit, Self harm, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Deadnaming, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Dysphoria

kyliedfoster's review against another edition

emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Religious bigotry

qcupquake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Orpheus Girl
4.75/5

- wow. just wow.
- MAJOR TW for homophobia and transphobia bc oh my god
- i went into this thinking it wasn't gonna be that bad but as a queer kid with religious truama, that hit HARD.
- although i'm not a lesbian, i could definitely relate raya's experiences with hiding and religion to my own experiences such as being afraid of fire and brimstone.
- very quick read (although i procrastinated a lot)
- definitely not for the faint of heart bc this is gut-wrenching

- i hope sarah and raya got to new york and found a new life. they deserve it

- something is stopping me from making this 5 stars but i don't know what
- overall an amazing and heartbreaking book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Transphobia, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Deadnaming, Abandonment, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit

leah_dawn's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Hate crime, Outing, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Lesbophobia