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A review by cellular_cosmogony
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
3.0
This is not review but an answer to the question: Why does every Eastern European have to be a villainous mobster? (TLDR: it's xenophobia)
The existence of Kavinsky is very funny to me as a Bulgarian. Firstly, his surname isn’t Bulgarian and his name isn’t even Slavic. Let’s face it - the type of Bulgarians who’d raise a child with this levels of internalized homophobia wouldn’t give him a western name. He’d be called something like Kubrat. We even have our own version of Joseph – Yosif. Idk if Prokopenko is supposed to be Bulgarian as well but his name sure isn’t. If Maggie Steifvater could find a Bulgarian song for him to listen to (Bela Jiga by Upsurt - it's a pretty good choice though I think of him as a chalga listener), there was literally nothing stopping her from googling “Bulgarian names” to make sure her choice was accurate.
I also found the overall writing of the character to be kind of xenophobic – he is routinely othered by the protagonists of the series and this is never addressed as unacceptable. He’s described as having a “refugee’s face” and as being “an import from somewhere” in their internal narration, and Ronan even calls him Russian as an insult, even though he’s aware Kavinsky’s a Bulgarian. This is never addressed as the xenophobic action it is, and also happens to Persephone, who is Estonian, and is routinely called Russian by her friends (she corrects them and they still do it). Kavinsky being the son of a mobster is very stereotypical as well. In general most of the times him being Slavic/Eastern European is brought up it’s either to call him a mobster and/or to insult him.
I know a lot of Bulgarian foks are happy that there is a Bulgarian character in the book in the first place, and that he listens to Upsurt, but you can't really deny that the music was probably the entirety of research that was put into his character, and the rest is just tired stereotypes.
The existence of Kavinsky is very funny to me as a Bulgarian. Firstly, his surname isn’t Bulgarian and his name isn’t even Slavic. Let’s face it - the type of Bulgarians who’d raise a child with this levels of internalized homophobia wouldn’t give him a western name. He’d be called something like Kubrat. We even have our own version of Joseph – Yosif. Idk if Prokopenko is supposed to be Bulgarian as well but his name sure isn’t. If Maggie Steifvater could find a Bulgarian song for him to listen to (Bela Jiga by Upsurt - it's a pretty good choice though I think of him as a chalga listener), there was literally nothing stopping her from googling “Bulgarian names” to make sure her choice was accurate.
I also found the overall writing of the character to be kind of xenophobic – he is routinely othered by the protagonists of the series and this is never addressed as unacceptable. He’s described as having a “refugee’s face” and as being “an import from somewhere” in their internal narration, and Ronan even calls him Russian as an insult, even though he’s aware Kavinsky’s a Bulgarian. This is never addressed as the xenophobic action it is, and also happens to Persephone, who is Estonian, and is routinely called Russian by her friends (she corrects them and they still do it). Kavinsky being the son of a mobster is very stereotypical as well. In general most of the times him being Slavic/Eastern European is brought up it’s either to call him a mobster and/or to insult him.
I know a lot of Bulgarian foks are happy that there is a Bulgarian character in the book in the first place, and that he listens to Upsurt, but you can't really deny that the music was probably the entirety of research that was put into his character, and the rest is just tired stereotypes.