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A review by riverss
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
1.0
I'm tempted to give this book one star because of the rampant ableism. At no point is it addressed or challenged by anyone; the other characters are there only to perpetuate harmful stereotypes. The last drop for me was the At least you're seeing clearer comment, at which point I almost laughed because it's just ridiculously stereotypical.
I could write an essay about the disability representation in this book because it's just that awful. I'll highlight two of the worst tropes here: the link between blindness and insight, as illustrated by the quote above, ages-old but just as harmful. The second is disability/disfigurement as punishment for actions/sins. Near the end of the book, the character states that she would finally receive the blindness my actions had earned. YIKES
The author uses the moment the character becomes impaired as an opportunity to write some rather grotesque imagery, including: From up there, I could see the bleeding, screaming cyclops I had become. DOUBLE YIKES
There's much more, but I don't want to give any more energy to this book. It didn't enthrall me at any point, and the ableism only made it worse, so there's that. I'm glad it's not that popular, and I hope it stays this way.
And the truth is, I probably wouldn't have noticed or questioned these things two years ago in the same way they seem to have gone unnoticed by most readers, meanwhile (consciously or not) perpetuating harmful stereotypes about disability.
Just kidding, it's one star; it's awful with and without the ableism
I could write an essay about the disability representation in this book because it's just that awful. I'll highlight two of the worst tropes here: the link between blindness and insight, as illustrated by the quote above, ages-old but just as harmful. The second is disability/disfigurement as punishment for actions/sins. Near the end of the book, the character states that she would finally receive the blindness my actions had earned. YIKES
The author uses the moment the character becomes impaired as an opportunity to write some rather grotesque imagery, including: From up there, I could see the bleeding, screaming cyclops I had become. DOUBLE YIKES
There's much more, but I don't want to give any more energy to this book. It didn't enthrall me at any point, and the ableism only made it worse, so there's that. I'm glad it's not that popular, and I hope it stays this way.
And the truth is, I probably wouldn't have noticed or questioned these things two years ago in the same way they seem to have gone unnoticed by most readers, meanwhile (consciously or not) perpetuating harmful stereotypes about disability.
Just kidding, it's one star; it's awful with and without the ableism