Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Ház ​az égszínkék tengernél by TJ Klune

85 reviews

joensign's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Religious bigotry

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

Read For:

Fantasy

Slow Burn

Found Family

Idiots in Love

Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:

Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534

Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Animal death, and Blood

abookwormspov's review against another edition

lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Racism, Torture, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

natroze's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Hate crime, and Mental illness

Moderate: Xenophobia, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Not on content warnings list: adoption/foster system trauma and abuse. Note: most xenophobia and racism in the book is directed at mythical/fantasy being characters (fairies, shapeshifters, etc). Also of note: does fall into the “character of color turns into an animal” trope; the one character I recall being described as black is a shapeshifter who turns into a dog, who has also suffered some of the most realistic-to-life adoption system trauma/abuse.

giulianalb99's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

Qué libro TAN bonito, 5 estrellas se le queda corto. Lo llevaré siempre en mi corazón. Este libro me ha hecho sentir tantas cosas bonitas e incluso me ha hecho llorar. Los personajes son increíbles y me ha encantado ver cómo evolucionan y lo mucho que se quieren todos e incluso hacen que te sientas como en casa. Arthur y Linus tienen mi corazón para siempre y los niños también. Me parece un libro súper importante por los temas que trata (como, por ejemplo, la segregación, la aceptación de uno mismo, los prejuicios, etc.) y por eso recomiendo a todo el mundo que lo lea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Racism, Confinement, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, and Religious bigotry

evarinya's review against another edition

medium-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

2.25

Honestly? I found it kinda boring... I heard so many amazing things about it, perhaps my expectations where too high, but... Linus was a boring protagonist (also perhaps too old for me? At least he was written like a character that was supposed to seem "old and weary"). Also he was constantly overwhelmed the first half of the book, which is not something I like to read in general.
I didn't like the "preachy" tone either - the idea of show don't tell seemed a little bit ignored, most things were either only told or shown and then explained afterwards. And sure, there were some good messages there, but it just felt very contrived.
The kids were somewhat cute after about half the book, once they had stopped with those annoying death threats.

The story was very much predictable, which doesn't have to be bad, but somehow in this case there... was not even a tiny twist on it or any kind of other kind of surprise...
Somehow the end made it even worse,

this kind of "oh because of a single person doing good now every "evil" person goes away and there are (almost) only "good" people left, rejoice!"
I mean, I do read books to escape from reality, but... this felt awkward to me...

I get that it's supposed to be all cozy and comforting, but I find if its too sugary it starts to feel fake at some point... And in this case it somehow managed to do just that.
Perhaps becasue I somewhat recently read "The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches", which had a very similar theme but did it better (imho).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Physical abuse, Confinement, Religious bigotry, and Bullying

anna_wa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse

caitlinjadams's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

What a lovely, lovely book about humanity. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

sirkeili's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I am absolutely floored by how much I love this book. From Linus' introduction, to his growth throughout the novel, to his final arc where he shines the brightest had me hooked.

Linus is both incredibly oblivious, and incredibly endearing. He reminds me a lot of Aziraphale; trying to do his job perfectly, but ultimately failing due to his endless compassion, empathy and boundless love.  The amount of times I was screaming both "Linus, for the love of god, LOOK" followed by me nearly crying at how soft he was is numerable.

The kids?  Arthur?  Zoe?  All of them were so endearing, and I loved them all so much. Theo and Lucy both are top contenders for my favourite kid, mostly due to their antics, but all of them are hilarious gremlins and their meddling is priceless.

I was not surprised Arthur was magical, as the hints were there, but the fact he was a FUCKING PHEONIX did actually.  The scene where Linus protects Helen from the rock, and you see how absolutely lethal Arthur can be in his form was absolutely cinematic.  The fact they have to have Zoe babysit the kids so they can bone each other in peace was absolutely hilarious as well, the poor things can't catch a break.  They're adorable dads, and the fact they are trying to save more children to give them a safe home, made me so damn emotional.

Overall, this feel-good story about found family and overcoming our own self-made limitations is a phenomenal novel.  I hope to see more of Linus and his family soon, I do miss them so! ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Child abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Confinement, Grief, and Religious bigotry

nehanaomi's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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 love it i love it i love it! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Child abuse, Confinement, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Racism