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panickedhonking's reviews
178 reviews
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
A strange mix of the most tragic and heartbreaking poems which gave me a sense that there's something after every apocalypse. Exhaustive list of content warnings somehow non-exhaustive still.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
A stellar book for any autistic or neurodivergent person coming to terms with masking.
We're All Neurodiverse: How to Build a Neurodiversity Affirming Future and Challenge Neuronormativity by Sonny Jane Wise
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Everywhere Nick Walker failed in Neuroqueer Heresies, Sonny blows past her and covers a thousand miles. It is a broad, validating, and instructive text on how to reconceptualize and accomodate your unique experience, removing value judgements from yourself, and it explores systems of normative oppression like concepts of politeness, schooling, business, and time. All that and to wrap it all up in a nice bow it has multiple parts on what plurality is, and how to accomodate it in business and in schools.
Neuroqueer Heresies by Nick Walker
challenging
informative
fast-paced
3.0
My opinion of this book slammed shut about 75% of the way through when Walker said with her whole chest "tame autistic" without irony to refer to people like Temple Grandin who gained approval (a dubious claim) from neurotypical society.
I think a lot of the underlying ideas are great, but ultimately Walker hypocritically employs a somewhat prescriptive view of how people are allowed to see autism. I do agree with the premise of neurodiversity as she outlined in the book, however I also think that it's an issue to say that anyone who employs any pathologizing self-identification is simply oppressed and their opinions by extension are invalid.
As a final note, she sure employs race as a comparison a whole lot for a white person while talking at length about who's allowed to speak for autistic people in academia, a category which does not include all autistic people.
I think a lot of the underlying ideas are great, but ultimately Walker hypocritically employs a somewhat prescriptive view of how people are allowed to see autism. I do agree with the premise of neurodiversity as she outlined in the book, however I also think that it's an issue to say that anyone who employs any pathologizing self-identification is simply oppressed and their opinions by extension are invalid.
As a final note, she sure employs race as a comparison a whole lot for a white person while talking at length about who's allowed to speak for autistic people in academia, a category which does not include all autistic people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
It's a groundbreaking work but half the time two pages could have been two paragraphs, and two paragraphs should have been two pages. I feel like I would have been satisfied reading the last 15 pages, although the rest of the book is still valuable if only as a historical records of the contemporary ideas this stood against.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Sexism
Intense intersexism while ultimately supporting the social cosntructedness of sex. It was 1990.
In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Vibe was interesting but not quite a hit with us. Melancholy and Shakespearean. Narrator was pretty good.
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's a great fantasy detective court intrigue kinda book, although the women are written in the way that dudes tend to. There's a very predictable goddess of lust. It could be worse, but it's A Thing.
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
Triggering content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
Really beautiful book, but it seemed like it was getting a lot sadder than I wanted for now.