readingpicnic's reviews
475 reviews

I learned a lot, and I’ll definitely be checking out the other works referenced in this text! Very engaging read about how technology made for disabled people isn’t made with their input and how it’s framed as a “fix” or “necessary” to disabled people’s livelihoods, when that is often not true. The chapter about neurodivergence referencing Pokémon as a type of technology space that neurodivergent people can navigate their own way made me happy. Fuck autism speaks!!!

I agree with a lot of the author's perspectives and appreciate her honesty about the pitfalls of the queer community that do not often get talked about. I was especially appreciative about the chapter on cycles of abuse in the queer community and who gets penalized/shunned because I have witnessed similar situations before as an observer and did not react to them as well as I could have at the time with who I supported/isolated. I think my point of view on shaming and isolating people who have caused harm, both online and in person, is always changing, and this book has made me think more critically about this. I also appreciated her focus on healing, understanding, and love throughout the book, as well as the emphasis on addressing early signs of abuse ahead of time instead of only reacting when something tragic and harmful befalls a community member.

The artwork was incredibly pretty, but I don't think the execution or writing was very strong...

Overall, this was a very beautiful, impactful, and vulnerable poetry collection with its explorations of race, lesbianism, mother-daughter relationships, and more. I found the poem about the author writing to her future daughter to be the most memorable and emotional for me. I'm only rating this less than five stars because some of the poems felt less impactful and like they were out of place amongst the rest of the poems, such as the Pac-Man poem, which was kind of silly and faux-deep...

Idk I didn’t really like this one. It put me in a sour mood…

I received a free digital ARC of this book from the publisher.
I would say that this book is horror in the same way that The Haunting of Hill House is horror in that it is mainly psychological and deals a lot with trauma. A lot of the story's horror comes from the main character experiencing paranoia and anxiety due to being gaslit by an emotionally and physically abusive partner for years to the point that they feel that they’re crazy, struggling with mental illness and s*icidal thoughts, being chronically ill, losing touch with most of their friends, having no familial support, and almost becoming houseless. There was also horror in the sense that Alex is a queer and trans person of color surrounded by white people who wish them ill-will and harm in the village that they move nearby to, which was especially disturbing with the men who would follow them on the road and taunt them. I appreciated the portrayal of the main character’s struggle with their gender and how confusing it all is–from my understanding, the main character identified as nonbinary at one point and got top surgery before socially detransitioning after being invalidated by their abusive ex who said he would only view them as a girl. Towards the end of the story, as the main character is enveloped into a small trans group of friends and gets a transmasc love interest, they slowly start to become comfortable enough to identify as trans again and come back out of the closet. I loved how the pronouns switched throughout the story as the main character tried to figure themself out, and I thought it was extremely well done. 

I also thought that the main character’s anxiety was portrayed so well, and I have so many of the same overthinking anxious thoughts as them, which was nice to see represented. Overall, I loved Alex’s character, and they felt so real to me. Their humor was great, their thought processes and actions made sense to me, and I overall loved reading from their point of view. They reminded me a little bit of Mae from the game Night in the Woods with how they think and talk, which I enjoyed. I genuinely cared for Alex as a character and wanted the best for them-I was invested!

I do think that I got a little confused as to what was happening at certain points in the story, such as when Alex goes up the elevator, and the whole storm scene in general, but I also feel like that was the intention since the main character was so disoriented during that scene? I was also often confused about why Amara would get upset with Alex, especially for wanting them to pull over to let the truck driven by racist white men pass when they were in danger. I wish there had been some resolution to the dog killer subplot since that felt unresolved. It also felt like the story was building up to Amara not being who they said they were for a while with Alex’s suspicions of him and nobody having heard of him, but I’m glad that he ended up being someone that cared for Alex when they had no other support. I kind of wish more of the story took place in the creepy mansion they were housesitting because there was so much setting detailed there and so much anticipation built up with the security cameras in the creepy basement, the voice system to activate the lights, the shadow of a person at the door of the mansion in the security cameras, the security codes for everything, and the elevator they weren’t allowed to use, but very little of the plot actually happened there, which makes sense because it was so inaccessible, which is its own kind of horror for a disabled person. I did like the ending with Alex getting a mobility device that works for them, as well as living with their old friend group of queer and trans people because I think that they deserved and needed to have that support system.

I think the art was beautiful, and I do love a graphic memoir. I wasn’t quite as interested in the religious Christian stories, aside from the last one with the god and devil. I’m not sure I entirely understood the shadows in the story, but I found the generational aspect of them intriguing. I thought the explorations of neurodivergence were good as well, especially the loneliness and ostracization experienced by neurodivergent people.

I was hooked by the first page! Such weird and captivating writing that I finished it in one day. Such a heartbreaking story about the isolation of motherhood coupled with having a disabled child that her husband wants to “fix” (autism speaks vibes). I love how she never gave up on her owl daughter and that she understood that there was nothing to fix about her daughter; that the world needs to be fixed to be a more accessible and accepting place for Chouette. I loved the queerness of this book as well, in all its many layers. Overall, a stellar book. This is like The Fifth Child if the mom hadn’t been ableist also. 

Femcel Greg Heffley. This was so different from the show, especially that ending! Omg! I do love a genuinely surprising and upsetting ending though.

Kincaid’s writing is sooo incredible. This is a continuance of my weird girlhood fixation, and Annie John is definitely a strange little girl whom I adored the perspective of. No critiques, I devoured this.