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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
Fresh Ink by Eric Gansworth, Sara Farizan, Schuyler Bailar, Nicola Yoon, Thien Pham, Malinda Lo, Sharon G. Flake, Walter Dean Myers, Gene Luen Yang, Melissa de la Cruz, Daniel José Older
2 reviews
emily_mh's review against another edition
4.0
This was a solid short story collection. There were many good stories and no disastrous ones! I also listened to the audiobook which was done super well, especially the narration for "Tags" and "Paladin/Samurai". "Why I Learned to Cook" and "Catch, Pull, Drive" were my favourites. Now to review each story individually:
Eraser Tattoo by Jason Reynolds: This story held a beautiful romance and great dialogue. It presented just a short snippet of the MCs' lives but in that time it developed their characters really well.
Meet Cute by Malinda Lo: This really captured the queer experience in the cautious and shy and frustrating way of trying to figure out your crush's sexuality. However, the plot was a little weak and I wasn't totally convinced of the MCs' chemistry. Still enjoyable though!
Don't Pass Me By by Eric Gansworth: This was such an important exploration of how whiteness is treated as the norm in white supremacist society, and also the relationship between colourism and racism.
Be Cool For Once by Aminah Mae Safi: There was a cute romance here but the plot felt really divorced from it. The conflict within the romance felt a bit forced, too. In my opinion, one of the weaker entries in the anthology.
Tags by Walter Dean Myers: I don't have the words to discuss the significance of this play. Its impact is in no way diminished by the fact that it is being performed in a different medium.
Why I Learned to Cook by Sara Farizan: I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS. One of my favourites from the anthology! The relationships were so wonderful: the romance warmed my heart while the MC's relationship with her grandma made me miss my own grannies.
A Stranger at the Pochinche by Daniel José Older: This story had a great steampunk vibe. However (and I don't exactly know how to describe this properly), the plot felt a bit convenient/straightforward, like it was only set up to illustrate the worldbuilding. This might have worked as an episode in a novel, but didn't work as a standalone short story.
A Boy's Duty by Sharon G. Flake: I don't think this was bad - it was great seeing WWII from a perspective that is rarely given space, i.e. from Black boys - but I also struggled to understand what the narrative was trying to say.
One Voice by Melissa de la Cruz: I don't tend to like it when an author does a short story relating to their personal works as their contribution to a shared, unrelated anthology. Often the story ends up relying on those other works to give it depth, which it shouldn't in these types of anthologies. However, I think this short story did well as a standalone! Although I did think that the MC's boyfriend was a complete asshole and that she deserved better. That being said, their relationship well illustrated the complete warping of perception of the world and experiences that occurs in the presence of white (and white-passing) privilege, and male or masculine-presenting privilege.
Paladin/Samurai by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham: I love that a graphic novel short was included in this anthology; it needs to be done more often in short story collections! I liked the art, I just wish it had colour. The story was quite short so that the plot didn't have much room to breathe, but I still liked it.
Catch, Pull, Drive by Schuyler Bailar: I DEEPLY loved this one; it is my other favourite story from this collection. It was heartbreaking and hopeful all at once.
Superhuman by Nicola Yoon: Yoon is a problematic author in my books so I won't be reviewing this story. I have added any content warnings from this story to the overall warnings of the book, however.
Eraser Tattoo by Jason Reynolds: This story held a beautiful romance and great dialogue. It presented just a short snippet of the MCs' lives but in that time it developed their characters really well.
Meet Cute by Malinda Lo: This really captured the queer experience in the cautious and shy and frustrating way of trying to figure out your crush's sexuality. However, the plot was a little weak and I wasn't totally convinced of the MCs' chemistry. Still enjoyable though!
Don't Pass Me By by Eric Gansworth: This was such an important exploration of how whiteness is treated as the norm in white supremacist society, and also the relationship between colourism and racism.
Be Cool For Once by Aminah Mae Safi: There was a cute romance here but the plot felt really divorced from it. The conflict within the romance felt a bit forced, too. In my opinion, one of the weaker entries in the anthology.
Tags by Walter Dean Myers: I don't have the words to discuss the significance of this play. Its impact is in no way diminished by the fact that it is being performed in a different medium.
Why I Learned to Cook by Sara Farizan: I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS I LOVED THIS. One of my favourites from the anthology! The relationships were so wonderful: the romance warmed my heart while the MC's relationship with her grandma made me miss my own grannies.
A Stranger at the Pochinche by Daniel José Older: This story had a great steampunk vibe. However (and I don't exactly know how to describe this properly), the plot felt a bit convenient/straightforward, like it was only set up to illustrate the worldbuilding. This might have worked as an episode in a novel, but didn't work as a standalone short story.
A Boy's Duty by Sharon G. Flake: I don't think this was bad - it was great seeing WWII from a perspective that is rarely given space, i.e. from Black boys - but I also struggled to understand what the narrative was trying to say.
One Voice by Melissa de la Cruz: I don't tend to like it when an author does a short story relating to their personal works as their contribution to a shared, unrelated anthology. Often the story ends up relying on those other works to give it depth, which it shouldn't in these types of anthologies. However, I think this short story did well as a standalone! Although I did think that the MC's boyfriend was a complete asshole and that she deserved better. That being said, their relationship well illustrated the complete warping of perception of the world and experiences that occurs in the presence of white (and white-passing) privilege, and male or masculine-presenting privilege.
Paladin/Samurai by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham: I love that a graphic novel short was included in this anthology; it needs to be done more often in short story collections! I liked the art, I just wish it had colour. The story was quite short so that the plot didn't have much room to breathe, but I still liked it.
Catch, Pull, Drive by Schuyler Bailar: I DEEPLY loved this one; it is my other favourite story from this collection. It was heartbreaking and hopeful all at once.
Superhuman by Nicola Yoon: Yoon is a problematic author in my books so I won't be reviewing this story. I have added any content warnings from this story to the overall warnings of the book, however.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Graphic: homophobic f-slur Moderate: theft, undocumented migrant experience, deportation, deadnaming Minor: menstruation, fainting, self injury, loss of a loved one, ageism, bomb, imprisonment, illness, transphobic t-slur, suicidal ideationbooksthatburn's review
adventurous
reflective
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
My favorites in the collection are “Be Cool for Once”, “Don’t Pass Me By”, “Catch, Pull, Drive”, and “Super Human”. There’s a lot of variation in setting, theme, and character backgrounds across the stories, so it’s hard to pin down a theme of the collection, except that the point was to have a lot of variety. Most of the stories are deeply intertwined with a character's marginalized identity, sometimes they're about the way the characters are marginalized and in a few of them they get to just exist. Overall it works and it’s well worth checking out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Eraser Tattoo: No major CWs. Meet Cute: CW for ableism (minor), misogyny, claustrophobia. TW for Harry Potter reference (page 35). Don’t Pass Me By: CW for racism, bullying. Be Cool for Once: No major CWs. Tags: CW for gun violence, violence, police brutality, murder, death. Why I Learned to Cook: No major CWs. A Stranger at the Bochinche: CW for violence. A Boy’s Duty: CW for racism. One Voice: CW for racism. Paladin/Samurai: CW for homophobia, racism. Kodama’s Ramen Shop: CW for racism, ableism, grief, parental death (backstory). Catch, Pull, Drive: CW for dysphoria, homophobia, transphobia, misgendering, cursing, bullying. Super Human: CW for racism, gun violence (backstory), police brutality (backstory), car accident (backstory), parental death (backstory).