imstephtacular 's review for:

Woodworking by Emily St. James

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Gosh, I loved this book! Not only is the writing excellent, but the story is messy and beautiful and complex and for me was the perfect balance of a YA narrative and an adult narrative

I liked the different perspectives of various ways and conflicting experiences of being trans. I also loved the unlikely friendships within this story

Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment

I appreciated the different ways St James approached deadnaming in the text