Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Fèms magnifiques et dangereuses: Mémoires affabulées d'une fille trans by Kai Cheng Thom

22 reviews

chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

For such a small book it really packs a punch.
This has a magical realisim, surreal feel that is so full of truth.
There are wonderful metaphors abounding displayed as a physical reality and inserts of poetry.

This book I had to put down at certain moments and breathe as I felt so moved by our protagonist and their friends and know that their story Echoes so many stories that go Unheard in our world. 

So many moments that feel powerful, and give hope and show anyone who is not trans how it feels. It has been a delight and a horror to walk in her fabulous stilleto shoes for a moment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Sexual content, and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual assault

yaoipaddle's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.0

Listened to the audiobook. It was just ok. A fun and quick listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Cursing, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Murder, Hate crime, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical content, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Body shaming

elsebeok's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Police brutality, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

theliterarywayfarer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

“I don’t believe in safe spaces. They don’t exist. I do, however, believe in dangerous stories.”

This fabulous memoir follows the journey of a young trans girl who has decided to flee her oppressive hometown of Gloom, "where the sky is always grey and the rain is always falling", in search of love, sisterhood and herself ✨

She finds herself on the Street of Miracles, and finally finds a sense of belonging in a group of fabulous, somewhat broken but absolutely fierce femmes, each with her own unique story to tell 💅

“Taller in my heels, I am closer to some dangerous heaven.” 👠

When a trans woman is found brutally murdered, she joins forces with her sisters to form a vigilante group to fight back the transphobes and misogynistic police officers who patrol the Street of Miracles. This is where things get a little out of hand..

“Sometimes fiction is truer than facts, and the trouble is knowing which fictions are facts and which facts are fictions.”

A one-of-a-kind, riveting debut memoir, that combines gritty realism with magic, a bit of madness, and a lot of badassery. Not a traditional memoir, but one that breaks down pre-defined gender and genre norms. An enchanting story of freedom, sisterhood, and transformation.👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏽

Honestly, I cannot recommend it enough. Thom's poetic yet blunt writing style makes it an absolute pleasure to read.💝

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Hate crime, Violence, Misogyny, and Transphobia

joyful_patatas's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I did sincerely enjoy the book, but felt like it was trying to cram many different aspects of trans issues in a limited amount of time. It definitely brights the reality in fiction in regards of the realities of trans people, but certain aspects were confusing as to whether which version of the story the narrator tells is the right one. It was probably the author's intention to have the narrator be unreliable in certain regards and have readers try and interpret the book, but I felt more confused rather than intrigued. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Rape, Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Self harm, and Police brutality

orchidd's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Hate crime, Sexual content, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Abandonment, Violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Self harm, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Abandonment

becksusername's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.75

This was such a beautiful memoir/novel

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Hate crime, Murder, and Police brutality

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

simple_alien's review against another edition

emotional 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

Magical and bada**. A must read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Transphobia, Murder, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Body shaming, Body horror, and Blood

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was a very strange experience. I treated it more like non-fiction with heavy metaphor than fiction iwth real life inspiration, but I rated it like I would fiction, so I really don't know. But in any case, I don't agree with every theme the author included in here (opening with "I don't believe in safe spaces" certainly had my back up from the get go), but I do think they are presented in a deep way. The writing style is amazing, and the audiobook narrator includes inflections that make it almost sound like listening so spoken word poetry at every moment. I really enjoyed this book over all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Transphobia

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

A beautiful, gut-wrenching read. Honestly I don't want to say too much more because I think it is best to go in knowing very little, except perhaps that this is a fictionalized memoir, not a true-to-life nonfiction one, though it carries many truths. The narrator remains nameless, and is a young Asian trans girl trying to find a place for herself.

Haunting, heartbreaking, powerful, hopeful, full of magical realism and the power of trans femininity. I read it on audiobook and would love to revisit it in hard copy form.

Many many quotes I loved that I forgot to capture as I was voraciously listening, but one I did write down: 

 "That's the difference between love and hunger. Hunger is a story you get stuck in. Love's the story that takes you somewhere new." 

I'm so grateful to the Bad Bitch Book Club's LGBTQIA+ subgroup for picking this one, I don't know if I would have heard about it or read it otherwise!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Sexual assault is a definite undercurrent, and is threatened or implied many times, but I can't recall if any instances happened explicitly on-page.