Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

18 reviews

eslsilver's review

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Excrement, Gore, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Genocide, Antisemitism, Murder, Violence, Child death, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide, Rape, and Animal death

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Drug use, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Violence, Police brutality, Genocide, Hate crime, Child death, Death, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Rape

shaipanda's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.75

I have FEELINGS about this book lol - both good and bad :) but mostly good tbh
In terms of good, this book was absolutely beautifully written and I really enjoyed the storyline - it was a lot darker and closer to horror than I usually read but I’m glad I finished it and got to find out what happened 
I felt like the mystery made sense and the way they concluded it was really satisfying - also of course by far my favorite part and the reason I read it in the first place was the Jewish representation and the fact that it was just such a truly Jewish story and setting and just everything - it was amazing to see that because I literally never see that 

In terms of stuff I didn’t love:
Obviously like I said this was a lot creepier and I’ve even heard some ppl on booktok describe this as horror I think (edit: not horror but it’s usually described as a thriller which close enough) which I can definitely see and that’s smth I usually avoid
But really my main issue with it was how it almost veered towards Jewish trauma porn in the middle- end bit. This esp made me uncomfortable because from interviews I’d read with the author it seemed like they weren’t Jewish but also reading their authors note it seems like they are? So ya idk - that aspect would made me way more uncomfortable if they weren’t Jewish so if they are then I’m more comfortable with it I think but still
Either way- personally as a Jew some of those bits were really intense to read as a character or two just go into such specific detail of how they hate us and use slurs over and over and ya 😬 
But overall I really loved this book and would recommend it esp for the Jewish rep and the murder mystery storyline which was well done imo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

clovelatte's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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? No

5.0

Damn. This book dealt with so much pain and violence but the characters are wonderful and I was tense the entire time hoping they would make it through. You absolutely MUST check the content warnings. Things are rough. But also so good. Love these boys. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

hawthornandhemlock's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

rey_therese07's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Suicide

xoodlebooks's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Medical content, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Torture

kayladaila's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I received an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The City Beautiful is a Jewish, gay, YA horror mystery set around the Chicago World’s Fair. It was a bit of a slow novel at the beginning, but did eventually pick up speed. All of the characters were well developed and came from different but historically accurate perspectives. I’m personally not a fan of horror, so parts of this were a bit much for me, but that doesn’t make it any less of a great read. The Jewish representation was phenomenal and I hope it comes across well to nonJewish readers. My favorite thing about this book is that it was able to be a gay historical romance with absolutely no homophobia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Physical abuse