Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

5 reviews

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Homophobia

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

pey333's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual content

Minor: Racism, Cursing, and Misogyny

melongin's review

funny hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

I read this in 3 days after not finishing a book all year. I don't know what it was exactly, but this book had me wrapped up in it. I loved having a gay main character I could relate to. And even the love interest I related to as well.

it broke my heart when Ben was talking about homophobic family. I saw so much of myself in Ben and his struggle so accept himself as LGBTQ

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Homophobia, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Racism, Sexual content, and Body shaming

Minor: Drug use

rey_therese07's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism

zabeishumanish's review against another edition

I thought the concept of this book was super interesting and something I can relate to.  At times my queerness has felt like my entire identity, and I've just wanted to escape that.  But the way that has formed drama in this book is just bad.  It is a bit odd that our hero decided to shove himself back in the closet, but overall pretty understandable.  The first big red flag this book had for me was how horribly his mother reacted to him closeting himself.  I just don't think there is a place for that many big parental emotions in what is strictly categorized as a coming of age book. The second red flag was how strongly he clung to the 'jock' label, it was like watching him completely lose his sense of self. Red flag three was how negatively he responded to other queer characters in the book while he was pretending to be straight.  The final straw for me what that he chose to lie about being in a relationship and in doing so took advantage of his best friend whose friendship he had already damaged by choosing to move to the boarding school.  I'm sure many of these issues would resolve themselves satisfactorily, but I can't imagine them being satisfying enough to be worth the pain of getting there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, and Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Self harm