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paigieodo's reviews
53 reviews
“You Just Need to Lose Weight”: And 19 Other Myths About Fat People by Aubrey Gordon
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
This was a great read, I think even for people—especially thin people—who think that anti-fatness does not affect them. I think it will challenge even those of us most invested in contesting anti-fatness to recognize our own biases and emotions about fat people.
Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Goto’s stories feel like they belong in a visual medium. Her imagination is deeply sensory, and though her writing is strong, I was excited to read a graphic novel whose story was dictated by Goto, but brought to life by illustration. Xu’s art gives majesty to this story. I was so delighted by this loving tale about an older woman facing death. The characters are so alive. The plot is gorgeously constructed. I am a big fan.
*Story Graph doesn’t let me add any water/drowning related content warnings, but it’s there. It’s on the stronger side of moderate.
*Story Graph doesn’t let me add any water/drowning related content warnings, but it’s there. It’s on the stronger side of moderate.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Medical content
Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, and Excrement
Half World by Hiromi Goto
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A gorgeous, emotional, horrific, YA fantasy/horror. Incredibly creative. Colourful storytelling. Complex themes of liminality and love: rebirth and retrying; poverty and purgatory. Gruesome, heartwarming, charming, queer, exciting. The protagonist, 14 year old Melanie is at once petulant, stubborn, crafty, determined, terrified, brave, and motivated by her love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Grief, Body horror, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, and Addiction
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, and Self harm
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Very loving memoir, with a healthy dose of self-help! Although sometimes seemingly directionless, Untamed is always thoughtful, kind, reflective, and honest. Coincidentally, I would use all of those adjectives to describe my girlfriend. The way Doyle writes about her wife Abby makes me think of her.
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Maus is a moving memoir, but not an inspirational one. It’s honest. It’s, at times, a plain retelling of one of the most horrifying periods of violence and genocide in human history—no blush, no moralizing, just an open-faced laying out of events. It is one of the most comprehensive Holocaust stories I’ve encountered, almost clinically blatant and descriptive, but its graphic novel format touches the part of the human reader that empathizes with emotional fanfare. Maus refuses to valorise. Instead, it humanizes, so that the dehumanization of its subjects feels so much more jarring. Spiegelman’s shadowy art style is so well suited to the setting of this book—stark, alarming, uneasy, industrial, detailed, often messy-looking. An important historiography executed in an under-utilized format. 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Suicide, Grief, Confinement, Antisemitism, Child death, and War
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Fucking fantastic book. Would not read again. Would not recommend.
Borders by Thomas King
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Very compelling! Asks an interesting question about indigenous citizenship I hadn't considered in such a direct way before. Stunning illustration. The conclusion is a bit abrupt and I am curious if the ending would have played out so smoothly in a real-life scenario.
Fire Starters by Jen Storm
emotional
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Although on the nose at times, Fire Starters is a nuanced and thoughtful narrative that unflinchingly calls out the barely-concealed racism of Canadian settler society and the anti-indigenous abuses that happen in policing and in schools. Illustrated beautifully with rich colour and detail, this short graphic novel takes a loving look at race, identity, and life on reserves for the native youths who don't get to explore and be kids the way white kids do without facing prejudice and violence as a result.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism