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A review by wheelygoodreads
The Ables by Jeremy Scott
1.0
This book was so bad and I'm really upset by it because I was so excited by the premise!
This book was supposed to be a great alternative to stories like that of Daredevil and other heroes with disabilities who end up getting super powers that not only negate their disabilities, but actually make them even better or more powerful than they would be without a disability. I had such high hopes for a book that wasn't all about overcoming one's disability. As a disabled person, I was excited to see where the book would go with that angle, which made the let down even worse.
This book came to my attention a few years ago, but until recently, I wasn't intrigued enough to actually start it. I'm currently doing an own voices reading challenge, and this book popped up on one of the lists since author Jeremy Scott has some disabilities himself. He does not, however, have the same, or even a related, disability as any of the main characters in the book. In fact, the way that he portrays many of these disabilities is really negative and harmful, especially if it's being validated as an accurate portrayal, labelled as own voices. The character that uses a wheelchair is described as "wheelchair bound," and the character with Down Syndrome is called "mentally handicapped" which are pretty universally acknowledged amongst disabled folks as harmful descriptions. Also, the character with Down Syndrome it's seriously infantilized throughout the entire story. Other people forget he is there or that he even exists if he isn't actively useful. In a book about disabilities, by a disabled author, I shouldn't have to be surprised that the R slur wasn't used to describe a character but that wouldn't have been necessarily out of place with the tone and descriptions in this book.
While I am on the topic of representation, for being a book about an aspect of diversity, there was very little diversity in this book at the hall. There was only a handful of female characters, many of which were mentioned once and then never seen again. One of the girls in Phillip's class is also given probably the saddest combination of disability and superpower in the entire book--deafness and super hearing, and then never mentioned again, even though hearing loss is a disability the author actually experiences, and therefore could portray more accurately. At one point Phillip just off-handedly says that it makes sense that a female character would need an escort home. No more thought is put into that, just that the girl, of course, can't take care of herself. Even the two female characters that got the most attention, the special education teacher and Phillip's mom, were very flat characters that only only exist to advance Phillip's character. The teacher is just there to answer a few world building questions, and then fade into the background until we need more exposition. Intentional or not, there are some serious issues with how women are portrayed, and left out of, this book.
There are also no great representations of characters of color in the book. There is one character that is noted as non-white. Henry, who is black, is also the student who ends up in the biggest service role. Henry isn't included because he is one of Phillip's best friends, but because Phillip needs Henry's superpower. At that point, he's little more than a tool for Phillip to use. People of color only existing to serve white main characters is a horrible trope that really should not have made its way into the story.
Also, does Jeremy Scott know what special education is? A majority of the students in this special education class have disabilities that wouldn't prevent them from being in a general population class. They might need accommodations, sure, but they don't need to be in a special education environment. Students aren't even allowed (or able) to use their powers at school, in which case I could see them being in a separate super powered physical education class, for example, if they were worried for the safety of themselves or others. They don't need to be in a separate class for normal English, science, math, etc. Heck, one of the students even has genius level brain power as his super power! If he was in any kind of special class, it should be honors something.
The writing also just isn't great. There are so many parts that run on and on. (The whole opening scene is needlessly long, for example.) Some things that are brought up but never again addressed. Elements that should maybe only be mentioned once or twice as foreshadowing are repeated so much that you just KNOW what's going to happen And while I listened to the audiobook, I've been told there were a lot of formatting issues in the print version as well.
This book really could have used an editor to make a few (more) passes over the whole book, and maybe a few diversity/sensitivity readers to address the harmful presentations and tropes attached to characters and identities.
This book was supposed to be a great alternative to stories like that of Daredevil and other heroes with disabilities who end up getting super powers that not only negate their disabilities, but actually make them even better or more powerful than they would be without a disability. I had such high hopes for a book that wasn't all about overcoming one's disability. As a disabled person, I was excited to see where the book would go with that angle, which made the let down even worse.
This book came to my attention a few years ago, but until recently, I wasn't intrigued enough to actually start it. I'm currently doing an own voices reading challenge, and this book popped up on one of the lists since author Jeremy Scott has some disabilities himself. He does not, however, have the same, or even a related, disability as any of the main characters in the book. In fact, the way that he portrays many of these disabilities is really negative and harmful, especially if it's being validated as an accurate portrayal, labelled as own voices. The character that uses a wheelchair is described as "wheelchair bound," and the character with Down Syndrome is called "mentally handicapped" which are pretty universally acknowledged amongst disabled folks as harmful descriptions. Also, the character with Down Syndrome it's seriously infantilized throughout the entire story. Other people forget he is there or that he even exists if he isn't actively useful. In a book about disabilities, by a disabled author, I shouldn't have to be surprised that the R slur wasn't used to describe a character but that wouldn't have been necessarily out of place with the tone and descriptions in this book.
While I am on the topic of representation, for being a book about an aspect of diversity, there was very little diversity in this book at the hall. There was only a handful of female characters, many of which were mentioned once and then never seen again. One of the girls in Phillip's class is also given probably the saddest combination of disability and superpower in the entire book--deafness and super hearing, and then never mentioned again, even though hearing loss is a disability the author actually experiences, and therefore could portray more accurately. At one point Phillip just off-handedly says that it makes sense that a female character would need an escort home. No more thought is put into that, just that the girl, of course, can't take care of herself. Even the two female characters that got the most attention, the special education teacher and Phillip's mom, were very flat characters that only only exist to advance Phillip's character.
Spoiler
The mom only really exists to die, and doesn't even do that in a way that makes you feel anything, really, since she wasn't a developed character to begin with.There are also no great representations of characters of color in the book. There is one character that is noted as non-white. Henry, who is black, is also the student who ends up in the biggest service role.
Spoiler
He becomes Phillip's seeing eye friend, and Phillip drags him around, even outside of superhero situations, just so he can see things. He drags him to the hospital so he can see his mom, he brings them to family dinner so he can see his family's faces for the first time.Spoiler
Even in superhero situations, there are times where Henry's whole job in a plan is just to be Henry's eyes.Spoiler
While we're at it, I also just want to acknowledge how frustrating it was that about halfway through the book there was just a magical solution to Phillip being disabled in the form of Henry sending him visions. Especially at the end, after Phillip gets the camera glasses, and Henry has a computer monitor mounted to his wheelchair just so he can look at the screen to show Phillip what he would otherwise be seeing if he wasn't blind. And even when he does get the ability to see things through Henri, it isn't done in a remotely convincing way. Someone who has never seen anything ever would not know the names of colors right away, he also wouldn't visually know what a gavel looks like, especially across the room. He shouldn't be able to read things by sight.Also, does Jeremy Scott know what special education is? A majority of the students in this special education class have disabilities that wouldn't prevent them from being in a general population class. They might need accommodations, sure, but they don't need to be in a special education environment. Students aren't even allowed (or able) to use their powers at school, in which case I could see them being in a separate super powered physical education class, for example, if they were worried for the safety of themselves or others. They don't need to be in a separate class for normal English, science, math, etc. Heck, one of the students even has genius level brain power as his super power! If he was in any kind of special class, it should be honors something.
Spoiler
And why doesn't the school bully end up in the special ed class after he loses his arm, if it really is for all disabled students?The writing also just isn't great. There are so many parts that run on and on. (The whole opening scene is needlessly long, for example.) Some things that are brought up but never again addressed. Elements that should maybe only be mentioned once or twice as foreshadowing are repeated so much that you just KNOW what's going to happen
Spoiler
(seriously, when you mention that the grandfather is dead like 30 times in a 350-ish page book, it's kind of obvious that he might actually be alive)This book really could have used an editor to make a few (more) passes over the whole book, and maybe a few diversity/sensitivity readers to address the harmful presentations and tropes attached to characters and identities.