Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens by Marieke Nijkamp

3 reviews

emily_mh's review against another edition

3.5

This anthology had a few great stories that are well worth a read, but unfortunately most were average, and a couple had downright bad disability rep. Also, you’d expect a disability anthology to be one of the very very few books out there void of unchallenged ableist slurs, yet this was not the case here. As a note before we start, while every author in this anthology is disabled, I could not clarify in all cases whether they were own-voices for the specific disability they wrote about, so I’ve put an asterisk next to the stories where I could clarify the authors were specific own-voices rep.

To give you a more in depth picture of the collection, I will discuss each story individually. My personal favourites were The Long Road, The Leap and the Fall, Found Objects, and A Curse, Kindness.

The Long Road by Heidi Heilig*: bipolar. I liked that this story was about shucking off the expectations and responses of others regarding your disability. In making others comfortable, we can neglect our own wants. The amulets the MC wears function as both objects of real-world significance, and as a metaphor for these expectations and responses. The MC also learns about the relief that comes from seeing others with your disability - an apt lesson concerning the nature of this anthology. Aside from the rep, I liked the historical setting and was especially drawn to Heilig’s atmospheric descriptions of the desert.

Britt and the Bike God by Kody Keplinger*: retinitis pigmentosa resulting in loss of vision. The writing style here was a little rushed and clumsy, but I love that I got to learn about how blind people participate in cycling. Here the MC is learning how to combat internalised ableism making her think she’s a burden, a common occurrence among disabled people given the ableism inherent in mainstream society and media. So this ended up being a relatable story in that aspect. The age gap between the MC and LI isn’t problematic per say but I always find it weird when authors choose to give high schoolers college-age LIs.

The Leap and the Fall by Kayla Whaley*: spinal muscular atrophy, wheelchair user. I love a creepy carnival setting, so I was pretty on board with this one. The unsettling prose served to heighten the sense of wrongness that pervaded the story. I appreciated how this entry wasn’t about a disabled-specific experience, but about showcasing a disabled person getting to be a hero. An added bonus here was the sapphic rep.

Per Aspera Ad Astra by Katherine Locke: anxiety. I don’t think this one worked in a short story format. The scope was too broad to have a satisfying set up and resolution in 30 pages. While it was again cool to see a disabled person get to be a hero, I had to suspend my disbelief that a teen was an essential part of coding a capital city’s defences in the midst of war.

Found Objects by William Alexander*: chronic pain, cane user. I loved this one. The MC’s experiences were intensely relatable to me as someone who has chronic illnesses. I particularly empathised with not knowing which abled people to trust, never knowing when ableism might crop up with them. The MC has theatrical magic which is something I’ve never seen before and was fascinated by. I liked how his disability played into the execution of this magic. The MC directly addresses the reader as a character in the story, which was unique and engaging.

Plus One by Karuna Riazi: I found it unclear what disability the MC had, I thought it could be ADHD, but every other review I’ve seen has identified it as a mental illness of some kind, so I’ll go with that instead. I liked learning about Hajj in this story, about the process of getting to Kaaba and what occurs during the pilgrimage. A main theme here is about praying disability away, and the MC simultaneously learning that while this is futile, the spirituality and community religion brings can help in managing a disability. I’m not sure how I feel about the rep here; I certainly look upon it more favourably now that I know it’s mental illness-related and not ADHD, but I’ll leave it at that.

The Day the Dragon Came by Marieke Nijkamp: chronic pain, cane user. I wanted more historical atmosphere from this one, but I still enjoyed the setting and liked how the story was structured around the building of Ghent Belfry, a historical event I was not aware of. I was interested by Alix’s story, in that the ableist attitudes toward her disability had led her to trust no-one. Her development centred around building this trust with Delfin, the other MC. I thought their connection was established effectively given the page constraint, and it made sense where they ended up. But overall, I did find the story a bit plain.

Captain, My Captain by Francisco X Stork: intellectual and developmental disability. Unfortunately I forgot to write notes at the time of reading this story so I can’t go into any great detail, but I remember this being well-structured, framed around a fraught relationship with an internal force. I liked where the MC ended up, too.

Dear Nora James, You Know Nothing About Love: IBD. This story needed more structure; it couldn’t decide what its focus should be, so we are sort of thrown in at a random point, and thrown back out at another. That being said, I thought the chronic illness rep was really well done. I also liked how the MC was allowed to take her time romantically, and the teenage cinema dates combined with the MC writing a local advice column made for some nostalgic, fun vibes.

A Play in Many Parts by Fox Benwell: cane user, chronic fatigue, chronic pain. I don’t know if the MC had chronic fatigue in the syndrome sense (i.e. CFS or as it is now known, myalgic encephalomyelitis, which I have) or as a symptom of another chronic illness. The two of them operate differently, so if the author was trying to depict ME, then they did not do a good job. Regardless of which type of fatigue, I didn’t like the rep here overall because of how the MC disparaged pacing. Pacing is literally essential in living with a chronic illness, so that you don’t relapse or make your condition generally worse. Trust me, I get how it can be hard to pace yourself (and if the author was trying to convey the frustration around this instead of swearing off pacing like I have interpreted, this was not conveyed well to me), but ridiculing the concept altogether makes no sense. It also implied that pacing was a choice chronically ill people can make, and not something they are inevitably forced to do as a result of their condition. Also, the MC is capable of doing a theatre run for weeks on end without any major crashes - their pacing plan wouldn’t look like building up to five minutes of activity over months like they say. On top of all of this, I was unsure of the dementia rep. Having your MC thinking their desperation to do theatre is the same as someone’s inability to do it is a weird choice. The MC also seems to think she knows better than a person with dementia and his wife regarding what is safe for someone with dementia to do.

Ballad of Weary Daughters by Kristine Wyllys: bipolar II. This was good. At its core it was about platonic soulmates being each other’s lighthouses in the storm. It’s so rare to see such deep platonic connection depicted in YA, so I was a big fan!

Mother Nature’s Youngest Daughter by Keah Brown*: cerebral palsy. I liked how this story centred around putting ableist bullies in their place. I was also compelled by the Mother Nature concept, how it’s an inherited position with multiple Mother Natures around the world. I loved the implication of Millie being Mother nature’s child, because it proclaims that disability is natural and part of nature’s design. Unfortunately, I struggled to get past the writing style which would be better suited to MG.

A Curse, A Kindness by Corinne Duyvis*: autism. This was SO enjoyable, I want a full-length version immediately! That’s not to say this didn’t work excellently as a short story, which it did, I just want more. I loved Sienna as the MC; I totally felt for her and was hoping so hard for her happy ending. The romance with Mia was fluffy and downright adorable. Their connection was super believable and they had great emotional chemistry. Duyvis’ world-building around wishing was thoroughly thought through.

P.S.: I always find it hard to do content warnings for anthologies, but basically if something is in the "minor" category then it probably only showed up in one story; any categorisation higher than that it would have shown up across multiple stories.

Content Warnings

lycheeteareads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

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hopeful slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

The quality of the stories in this anthology was really uneven - the good stories were excellent, but the bad stories were so bad that I struggled to finish them. Many of the stories felt really juvenile, even for YA, and a lot of the fantasy/sci-fi stories had pretty weak world building. I would probably still recommend based on the quality of the best stories in it, but get it from the library.

Top faves: THE LEAP AND THE FALL by Kayla Whaley, A CURSE, A KINDNESS by Corinne Duyvis

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