Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

34 reviews

cluckieduck's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Self harm, Car accident, and Cultural appropriation

recycled_personalities's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Genuinely such a good read. It was really comforting queer representation and that definitely made me happy. It’s a LITTLE slow at the very beginning but please don’t make the mistake of giving up on it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thewordsdevourer's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

in a tragic case of 'did i read the same book as everyone else?', im so fcking sad to be giving this only 1 star despite the importance of its diversity and representation, both in terms of gender and culture. although the book is full of queer characters whose real-world struggles are effectively explored, and i enjoyed (and learned from) the vibrant latinx culture...thats pretty much it and i have issues w/ almost everything else.

the pacing is weird and the writing couldve used some more editing--currently it's a lil unpolished w/ some typos, making the story awkward at points and feel almost juvenile. in terms of characters, julian's the only i actually like, while some others (w/ the exception of yadriel) seem flat and couldve been more fully fleshed out. the story's also predictable--which isnt always a bad thing if the journey getting to the reveals are enjoyable, but it isnt in this case. many blurbs and reviews call this book romantic, but i dont find it as such at all.

now, my biggest qualm w/ this book: the crux of the story and the characters' actions dont make sense. for the former: spirits are such bc they're dead, so why is so much fuss made over julian's fate? and if he wasnt truly dead yet, how did he even become a spirit? this is the literally the very crux of the book yet it has a major logical lapse. it's also ridiculous that he was alive even after being stabbed in the fcking heart like?????? for the latter, there are too many instances--both big and small--to name, i basically had sth to frown at in every chapter. ig one baffling example is near the end when help comes down to the cave, and no one literally bats an eye or seems concerned that julian has a huge bloodstain on his chest. and so many things wouldve gone easier if yadriel and maritza used their heads a lil more. also the mechanics of spirits couldve been explored more: can they float around? since they move thru things, why did julian have to go sneaking around going in and out thru the front door? i just cant...

oh AND i feel like there's a lot of wasted potential here. the spirit aspect couldve made the book so much more fantastical and unique, yet all it did was boggle down the fun. one of the major characters in your book is a spirit, yet a huge chunk of your story is basically your teenage characters tryna play detective to get more useful info by talking to ppl (and failing) while minding curfew??? i..i cant. anyways this turns into a long rant but this couldve been so much better. ultimately it boils down to the fact that i didnt like this book, and while cemetery boys is def an important story whose representation means so much to so many, in terms of pure story aspects, it's honestly not a rly good one, and yes im sad and disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia and Grief

Minor: Death of parent

aniwillow's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

baexlee's review

hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-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

Cemetery Boys is a phenomenal story of identity, acceptance and discovery. I had the fortunate experience of reading alongside my high school students who provided their additional insight and thoughts through our discussion and this novel is a thrilling success for us. Many of them engaged with it in a way they claimed they had never engaged with an assigned reading book, which made the fact that it deals with topics of transgender identity and acceptance as well as cultural norms and relations to popular culture all the more impactful. Novels such as this, that make these topics so accessible while still being fun and mysterious serve a vital place in the literary space, and Cemetery Boys is a shining example of what that can do for everyone who reads. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Sexism, and Blood

dolores_madil's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

I really liked this book there where things I deferentially could not relate to as a straight women but as a Mexican American I related to a good amount. If you want to know more details I have a video about it on my YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/RDfaHZgqHsg

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

marthadude's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Sexism, Transphobia, and Blood

Minor: Child death and Murder

stormywolf's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

 I think I first saw this one through my library's new release emails, but I've since seen it all over the web. I was especially drawn to this one, not only for my curiosity about the brujx traditions, but because of the trans main character. Having a trans sibling, I'm all for supporting the trans community and learning more about their experiences. On the other hand, with my grandma's recent passing I was very hesitant to dive into a book dealing directly with death and lost spirits, and so I ended up putting off reading at all for a couple months. But, after an overly long hiatus I decided to finally take the plunge and find out if this book was really worth all the hype.

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, this book was a magical read. Cliche, I know, but being the first book I've ever read with a trans main character, and one of only a handful with a queer main character, I had a lot of hope riding on this to be great, and it delivered in spades. The story came off as entirely respectful of everyone involved, including those who fill some antagonist roles. And I know I've used the word "respect" far too many times already, but I'd also like to add "upbeat" as a descriptor, as this book manages to keep an uplifting and hopeful tone throughout its narrative, even when addressing the hardships and traumas that people in these communities often face. I will definitely be seeking out any and all stories Aiden chooses to tell (including any that return to Yadriel's neck of the woods!) and I encourage anyone and everyone to give Cemetery Boy a try. After all, most people only live once. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Transphobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Deadnaming, Sexism, Violence, and Grief

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Deadnaming and Death of parent