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coolfoolmoon's Reviews (357)
I really don't like white authors, but they take up the majority of... well, everything, so if I come across a book with an interesting premise or cover or title I don't mind reading it, just for the sake of experiencing a new book that interested me. But white people really live in and experience an entirely different world. Only a white kid could be this annoying because he doesn't know what to do with his life, because he doesn't know how to find purpose.
Lastly, do white people really talk like that? Like, not only with his therapist, but with his family too? At home??? I know teens don't talk like that for real, but I've read enough other white authors that it's becoming concerning. Do they not have other normal conversations with people? Even though this book was published over 10 years ago, how does this keep passing as how real people speak? No way. It can't be.
Graphic: Ableism, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racism, Stalking
Minor: Fatphobia, Blood, Death of parent, War
I don't know what impact this book left on me. I assume an important one. I still love the book despite the controversy, maybe also in spite of it. My grandmother was born in Jackson. She and Mae Mobley would've been a week apart, if they were both alive and real, respectively. Her side of the story, what would've been my grandmother's I mean, isn't shown, but maybe someone story she would've known was. Maybe her auntie or cousin or someone who she went to church with, had her mother not moved out of the South before she was three months old. I don't know. The story's very real. Whether or not it connects to you personally, who doesn't have a soft spot for those?
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Dementia, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol
Minor: Racism
Very funny. As an only child who grew up with a somewhat absent father, and knowing the secondhand experience my friends had of being one of many children, this hit home. The book is very real in many ways.
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment
Minor: Racism, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Grief, War
I like the book. It's nice. It's pretty slow. The thing you think is happening is, but it isn't revealed until you're closer to 3/4ths of the way done as opposed to halfway, which also makes it feels slow. That could've been fine, except the backstory showing what their relationship used to be is kind of a drag and doesn't really add anything. Most of those stories didn't feel charming or sweet or fun. Just boring. But I guess that's the point? Falling in love with the mundanity, with the little moments here and there. Remembering things you didn't think in the moment you'd need to remember later. Either way, it didn't work for me, personally.
I also liked the nerdy bits.
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Transphobia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Biphobia, Deadnaming, Car accident, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Confinement, Self harm, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic friendship
The only reason why I'm comparing the books is because I asked myself why am I giving Love a higher rating than I gave Jazz despite the fact that I liked more elements in Jazz than I did in Love? It's because what I liked in Jazz wasn't central to the main story,
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Miscarriage, Slavery, Religious bigotry, War
Large sections of this book should be taught in schools. Not all of it though, some of it can be scrapped and the point will still be the same. The main thing that takes you out of the book is how much of it is really long examples.
Other than that, no notes. The book really touches on everything. Even though it was published 51 years ago, what's changed? Too much has stayed the same. Although, talking about the USSR as if it was still an ever-present thing threw me off my rocker a couple times.
If you're reading this review, by the way, please watch the film Sleep Dealer (dir. Alex Rivera, 2008). Thank you.
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War
Minor: Body horror, Homophobia, Blood, Antisemitism