Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kamoy 's review for:
The Cabinet of Wonders
by Marie Rutkoski
I loved this book as a kid but this reread was definitely shocking to see the stuff I didn't realize when I first read it. The story was super nostalgic to me and honestly a great middle grade fantasy especially from 2008 and I would have rated it much higher if not for the offensive portrayal of Roma people. I hoped at the beginning it would just be only a few offensive lines but the story continued to have a main character who was Roma who fit unfortunately way too many stereotypes, especially being a thief. The g-slur was also used and while the Roma character did explain that it was offensive and Roma should be used instead, I read the summary of the sequel book and the g-slur was used there again. It was honestly quite a frustrating read because it seemed like the author was trying to present some of these stereotypes of Roma to challenge them, like the discussion of the g-slur, the brief conversations about colorism, etc. In the note at the end she also briefly mentioned some of the horrific history Roma people have been through and said she wanted to portray them well. I was hoping she would continue challenging these stereotypes as the story went on which is why I kept reading, but at the end I do not think she accomplished that. If portraying these offensive stereotypes to challenge and break them down was her goal, she did not succeed in that and instead ended up reinscribing painful and racist stereotypes. I was hoping to reread the whole series but I will not be continuing.