Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Δάκρυα Ξυράφι by S.A. Cosby

24 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I’d give this more than five stars if I could. It was so good, so riveting, so compelling, in every sentence, from beginning to end.  

The story is about two guilty homophobic men struggling to atone for their meanness and neglect in the way they raised their sons. The sons were married to each other, the parents refused to attend the wedding, and within a few months the sons had been murdered, leaving behind more grief than you can imagine. The fathers, both being violent but reformed ex-cons, and realizing the error of their homophobic ways, take on the task of finding the killers and exacting vengeance. 

It’s a violent, vibrant thriller of grief and love, beautifully written, taut, emotional, and meaningful. I can’t recommend it highly enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Torture, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Homophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Grief, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Gore, Alcohol, Sexism, Hate crime, Car accident, Death, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Classism, and Cancer

tenten's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Razorblade Tears was a fun, fast-paced book about two Southern fathers, Ike and Buddy Lee, avenging the death of their sons, Isiah and Derek. The fathers, one Black and one white, are not only dealing with grief, but also regret for the strained relationships they had with their gay sons. this regret is the driving force in their quest for vengeance: they feel that they failed as fathers so they’re finally doing right by their sons by embarking on this mission. 

this novel was really absurd! like, these two middle aged men

took out a biker gang and two powerful political figures?

lol. okay. sure! i enjoyed this though–i didn’t pick up this book to be confronted with reality, and this provided exactly what i needed from it. the writing was good enough, though there were some sentences that i felt were really cliche. relatedly, Ike’s constant lecturing of Buddy Lee about racism sometimes felt out of place and a little, like…would anyone really say this in this situation? be forrea;. speaking of Ike, between the two protagonists, i think he experienced the most character growth especially in terms of being able to be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, but i think part of that was because Buddy Lee was already more accepting to begin with. he obviously made his mistakes with his son, some huge ones, but on the whole seemed less….disgusted by queerness than Ike did. he’s ignorant in a way that is harmful at times, but generally is more easy-going and chill than Ike. and funnier. honestly, if you asked me before i started the book, i never would have guessed that i’d find the white dad more likable. he was just more fun!
everything really pops off in the last 100 or so pages. the identity of the person behind it all felt somewhat contrived to me, but the benefit of a more plot-oriented novel is that sometimes you can sacrifice realism for the sake of a good story. and this book certainly delivered on that front! there were parts when i got real life heated about the characters’ actions. that’s how you know a story is good, when it can get a real rise out of you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Murder, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Racial slurs

noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 Grab your tissues 😭

Content Warnings: Racism, homophobia, transphobia, violence, gun violence, blood/gore, murder, hate crimes, racial slurs, grief, loss of a child, alcoholism, deadnaming, classism,

This book was an emotional journey as two homophobic fathers attempt to find out exactly what happened to their sons and avenge them.

The journey of them learning from their hateful history and opening their minds to accepting people for who they are, not who they love...well I'm an emotional mess now.

Beautifully written I'll definitely be checking out more of this authors work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Transphobia, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, Hate crime, Child death, Addiction, and Classism

a_sprinkling_of_books's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, Murder, Blood, Homophobia, Classism, Confinement, and Racism

bookdragon217's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"It's easier to keep your head in the sand than it is to try and see things from somebody else's point of view. There's a reason why they say ignorance is bliss."

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby was writing perfection for me. Cosby's narrative style was propulsive and enthralling. I could not put this one down because once I started, I was simultaneously, vividly visualizing all the action. I felt this book on a visceral level & when it finished I was left deeply emotional from the roller coaster ride. 

This was primarily a character study on humanity and the ways that people hurt the ones they love the most due to ignorance and unwillingness to understand and put themselves in the shoes of another person. It was a deep dive into male parenting and the ways that race, religion and masculinity poison relationships with children, especially sons. It was a study on how two men deeply rooted in homophobic beliefs used their pain, grief and regret to attempt to gain redemption and justice while examining themselves and their own motivations. The fact that Ike and Buddy Lee are different races added more layers to work through. It was a constant conversation between the two working through their differences that allowed breakthroughs and growth to happen despite the violent nature of the story.

But this story was also a reckoning. It was reckoning with racism, toxic masculinity, homophobia, religious oppression, male fascination with violence, hate and revenge and redemption that comes at the highest cost. This story reminds us that LGBTQIA people still don't have safe spaces to just exist and to love freely without threat of violence or death. For some, home is the place where they face the most rejection and hate. This story also reminds us that it's never too late to self examine & do the work to undo the indoctrination of the harmful beliefs that are taught to us. It's never too late to advocate for others or to ask for forgiveness. Ignorant & fear based actions have dire consequences but the unlearning should be an active process. 

S.A. Cosby has easily become an auto-buy author. This book had my heart racing and left me bawling. Do yourself a favor & read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, and Outing

kennedybullen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Classism, and Addiction

Minor: Car accident, Blood, and Cancer

pollyhall's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

There is a scene at the beginning of the book where Ike is taking his grief out on a punching bag. The rhythm mimics the style of writing short and to the point which I liked. However, I found the language used to describe women in this book offensive. 
The story could have been shorter and some characters felt unnecessary to move the story along.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Vomit, Abandonment, Bullying, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Murder, Racism, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence

nebulasaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Child death, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Terminal illness, Murder, Racism, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcoholism, and Blood

phippsmr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Biphobia, Cancer, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Classism, Domestic abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Outing