Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

66 reviews

briannagriffin567's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I would give this book all the stars if I could. I rarely write a review, but want to remember how perfect I thought this book was. It was beautiful, funny, touching, and overall so much more than I thought it would be when I picked it up to read on a whim.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Dysphoria, Grief, Deadnaming, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny, Deportation, Death of parent, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Blood, Homophobia, Bullying, Car accident, Biphobia, and Abandonment

birdieex's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad 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

5.0

I cannot begin to explain how many tears I shed from this book! Our main character is a gay, trans, Latino boy. The rep is absolutely incredible. The language and culture interwoven is beautiful. I found myself using an online translator for some words and phrases simply to get the direct meaning, but the author makes it possible to use context clues to figure it out if you don't speak Spanish and sometimes straight up tells you in text.

I fell in love with Yadriel and Julian a soon as they appeared on the page and I highlighted so many quotes the made me laugh. The characters are so strong and I was so absorbed in the world that I had trouble wanting to put the book down.

As a trans adult who was that trans teen fighting for their identity to be seen, that aspect affected me deeply. It was hard to see Yadriel's struggle since I related so much, but it was so beautifully written.

One of my favorite books by far! Can't wait to read more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Outing, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Deportation, Police brutality, Violence, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Car accident, Sexism, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Women are discouraged from a certain job in the community.

sapphic_alpaca's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Death, Gore, Body horror, Cursing, Blood, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Deadnaming

Minor: Homophobia, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Deportation, and Sexual content

rieviolet'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

3.5

I listened to the audiobook version so this is going to colour my review/rating a bit, because I'm still trying to get used to this medium of reading, and my mind doesn't always cooperate and tends to wander a lot.

I felt like the beginning and the end of the story were stronger and more memorable, whereas the middle part was a bit slow and, to be honest, I remember very little of what happened, it all kind of blurred together.

I really liked the representation of the trans experience thorugh the character of Yadriel. We got to see the big and more evident aspects of it, but also the little and everyday details. 

I appreciated the cultural elements, as well as their more fantastical re-imagination; though I think maybe at times the author verged into overexplanation. I also liked the interspersed sentences and expressions in Spanish.

I wasn't quite sold at the beginning on the romance but, as the story progressed, it got better and I'm not ashamed to say that

when Julian said "mi querido"

I screamed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Kidnapping, Gore, Child death, Religious bigotry, Murder, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Bullying, Classism, Deportation, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Torture

psitstorrie's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The premise and characters are fantastic. The pacing is very inconsistent though. It starts off so, so slow, but right at the end it is full steam ahead, with little built in between. I enjoyed the book a lot though, and it was really nice seeing the family dynamics play out how they did. It’s fun and dark at the same time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Death, Abandonment, Murder, Transphobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Deadnaming, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Car accident

classicalhell's review

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Transphobia

Moderate: Car accident, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal death, Deportation, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Child abuse

cowardlyteaman's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

This was certainly a good book, if not a bit ... flat?

I'll be completely honest, and say that the first half of the book was rather uninteresting. The action didn't start until the last hundred pages of the book, but there was definitely potential for more action earlier on as well, to make it more exciting. There was a lot of identity issues and character dialogue during the first half of the book, which is by no means irrelevant to the plot, but to me it got dull.

I also wish that Yadriel had been given a more distinct personality. Julian was exceptional, Maritza was amazing, Catriz was fabulous, but Yadriel...? He deserved more than being a pretty standard protagonist-y type. Apart from being trans, he doesn't stand out as a protagonist at all, and being trans shouldn't be what makes him special. At least the trans people I know have personalities beside being trans.

However! I loved how Spanish was used in this book. Usually, non-English words will be written in cursive, alienating them, as it were. But here they're kind of just woven into the text as any other word, because of course Spanish isn't foreign at all to the narrator, and it makes it easier for me as a reader to relate as well, despite being the from the whitest of corners in Norway.
This applies to the rest of the culture references as well. It was all explained in a very nice way.
On a side note concerning the identity and language here: Why was there one line where author Thomas wrote «Latinx mom»? If the gender was unspecified, it would've made perfect sense, but if it's given that she's a mom, then wouldn't she be Latina...? As far as I know, you wouldn't really have a Latino mom? Maybe a Latino's mom, but... unless I misinterpreted, that wasn't the case.

Anyways, I've given my opinion, but I still enjoyed the read. Frankly quite predictable, but aren't all stories these days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Cursing, Deportation, Deadnaming, Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, and Abandonment

mle11's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Cursing, Kidnapping, Blood, Child death, and Dysphoria

Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Homophobia, Gun violence, Abandonment, Deportation, and Animal death

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Transphobia, Grief, Cursing, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deportation, Dysphoria, Abandonment, and Confinement

njh_books's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

A bunch of friends recommended this one and I'm glad I read it. It was thoughtful, sweet, adventurous, heartwarming, a bit spooky, a bit historical, and a bit dramatic all rolled into one.

Reading this story also over the dates they happened added a bit of extra magic to it. Finishing the story in the early morning/late night hours of Dia de Muertos was like being in the story.

 

I will say I saw Tio Catriz as the murderer pretty quickly. I had my suspicions earlier on, but my red flags went up when Lita told the legend of Bahlam. By the time we got the half heard argument between Catriz and Enrique (which Yadriel thought was about him), it sealed the confirmation for me...and that was 100+ pages before we actually found out Catriz was the murderer.

I enjoyed all the friendship shown in the story and the interactions the characters had. It felt so realistic and also just kids being kids in the circumstances they find themselves in. Maritza was wonderful and I enjoyed the scenes with her dogs.

Julian and Yadriel are quite cute and the playful teasing is fun. The slowly blooming relationship was reminiscent of teenage years and I loved that Yadriel's mom, Camila, got to meet him in the epilogue. The reunion with his mom was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. 

 

Apparently the book should have sequel in 2024, so looking forward to that! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Torture, Murder, Transphobia, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Deadnaming

Minor: Car accident and Alcohol