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A review by etemp
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
dark
hopeful
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
4.25
ike and buddy lee said "protect the dolls!" and that's character growth.
i know the main theme of this book is grief and the lengths one would go to in order to avenge their loved ones, but i found myself very disheartened by the premise that isaiah and derek literally had to die in order for their fathers to consider opening their minds to basic human empathy. reality aside, that is an extremely bleak story for queer children of bigoted adults. my takeaway was that when men are responsible for unlearning their own homophobia, transphobia, and toxic masculinity, it comes at the cost of queer lives and makes pawns of vulnerable communities (children, trans folks, the elderly, folks of color, women, disabled folks, etc.). ouch.
for a book that centers two traditionally masculine and homophobic men, i did actually enjoy their narration. i thought that it would be tough to relate to them, but their experiences of loss and their senses of justice are terribly universal bridges. the action was very well paced, though there were some stops along the way that i thought could have been edited out because they didn't add much to the overall story that hadn't already been covered and hammered home.
this story was grisly in the extreme, i'm talking 'check the trigger warnings' extreme. there was a lot of blood, a lot of guns, it seemed like there was a violent threat on someone's life every other sentence, a lot of prison- and gang-related trauma, a lot of racial and sexual slurs, i could go on. i was fine reading most of the action and gore up until the three year old was pulled into it, that crossed a line for me in terms of entertainment. i can't imagine the trauma she'll carry with her for the rest of her life.
i would not say that the ending provided the kind of catharsis that i had hoped for, but there were spots of light in it that made it skew more toward hopeful than hopeless. i'm looking forward to the day when such stories are of another, darker time altogether.
i know the main theme of this book is grief and the lengths one would go to in order to avenge their loved ones, but i found myself very disheartened by the premise that isaiah and derek literally had to die in order for their fathers to consider opening their minds to basic human empathy. reality aside, that is an extremely bleak story for queer children of bigoted adults. my takeaway was that when men are responsible for unlearning their own homophobia, transphobia, and toxic masculinity, it comes at the cost of queer lives and makes pawns of vulnerable communities (children, trans folks, the elderly, folks of color, women, disabled folks, etc.). ouch.
for a book that centers two traditionally masculine and homophobic men, i did actually enjoy their narration. i thought that it would be tough to relate to them, but their experiences of loss and their senses of justice are terribly universal bridges. the action was very well paced, though there were some stops along the way that i thought could have been edited out because they didn't add much to the overall story that hadn't already been covered and hammered home.
this story was grisly in the extreme, i'm talking 'check the trigger warnings' extreme. there was a lot of blood, a lot of guns, it seemed like there was a violent threat on someone's life every other sentence, a lot of prison- and gang-related trauma, a lot of racial and sexual slurs, i could go on. i was fine reading most of the action and gore up until the three year old was pulled into it, that crossed a line for me in terms of entertainment. i can't imagine the trauma she'll carry with her for the rest of her life.
i would not say that the ending provided the kind of catharsis that i had hoped for, but there were spots of light in it that made it skew more toward hopeful than hopeless. i'm looking forward to the day when such stories are of another, darker time altogether.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Sexism, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Rape, Vomit, Police brutality