"on the internet, people like to use their marginalization as a weapon to bolster their social currency but in the real world.... that shit will just get u hate crimed" 1) absolutely true 3) i like how cindy just will just casually drop the most profound one-liners right after talking about mommy milkers
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: NOT ALL LGBTQ BOOKS HAVE TO BE SOME LIFE CHANGING NOVEL WITH A BIG PROFOUND MESSAGE. We live normal lives!! I don’t go around everyday like “man, I’m gay, the homophobia I experienced really made me wiser as a person”. Like, I think it’s almost homophobic/transphobic to expect every book about the community to be riddled with angst and ending with some bittersweet message. We’re allowed sappy, badly written romances too. People (esp “allies”) are way harsher critiquing a lgbtq authors book- esp if that author is a woman, nb, a poc (or all the above). Not to mention wlw books being less talked ab than mlm books (remember that one booktoker that admitted to not liking OLS *because* they were “lesbians” - that’s how she put it, I’m aware that one of them is bi which is in itself bi erasure.
At first I read it as “all lgbtq books have to be some life changing novel etc…” and I was so ready to defend it. But then I found my brain. It would be great if they could normalise it. Though I am really happy of how modern and accepting the book community already is. But yeah sometimes ppl vex me as well. A while ago some ppl where saying that queer characters in shows and movies should always be played by queer actors . No that’s not how you normalise them and frankly it would create a divide instead of normalise it. This is just one example but sometimes the lgbtq community works against itself
I remember one person said “the only downfall of {One Last Stop} is that they’re lesbians.” And I had to stop the video because WTF??? How are you reading a WLW book and surprised they are WLW???
Me watching the Princess Switch and subsequently plotting out an entire sapphic 'girl goes to small fictional European country and falls in love with royalty' story. But like seriously everything is better when sapphic
Cindy going from "Do you think I would choose to be straight?" to "I want to habe my own love story with some hot chick" is my favorite character arc ever.
What I’ve learned from recently realizing my gay -ness is that when someone says they want to be gay (especially if it’s followed by how pretty women are) they might be gay
@@miaelk i at some point was like "if i *could* choose to be bi I'd be because I'd have more options also girls are pretty too" to "waiiiit a second" I still feel unsure about my label but... I might be a little bit gay
The moment Cindy said that she wishes she wasn't straight I just new she wasn't. Wishing you could date girls is the first step to figuring out you want to date girls.
The issue surrounding this book and Casey’s previous book ie Red, White and Royal Blue is that some of booktok folks/bookstagrammers/readers/ reviewers gave the book a lower rating or DNF-ed it just because it has FF content. Some of them have blatantly admitted to fetishising Gay romance in novels and at the same time they have “issues” with FF romance. My point here is if you’re supporting diversity in books do it for the right reason (and not because of any ‘fetish’ you might have).
I don’t wanna sound like, “arghh people are cancelling authors over nothing and everyone’s being so sensitive grr” but I definitely think there’s a problem with people attacking authors for things they write in their books like,, there’s a reason it says ‘This is a work of fiction and doesn’t represent the authors actual views or beliefs’ in the front of/before a lot of media and books. Whenever I see stuff like that I’m always like, wait until you learn about Lolita
Because you mentioned Lolita imma quote him real quick “It is childish to study a work of fiction in order to gain information about a country or about a social class or about the author.”
@@jen.m.3781 Idk who said that but tbh i disagree with that quote in a general sense. And like im not talking abt whatever is in the book that isn’t the author’s truest opinion and they clearly establish that bad stuff to present what is bad and then show what is actually right and what they believe in but like it is definitely not childish to see the connection between the author and book; at least it’s a discussion to be had because sometimes it is, just not always. Like what makes these fiction books real as fiction and reality do have that connection or arent that disconnected (you’d be surprised how interconnected things can be, tracing back to years of origin and history) is the people behind them in a literal and deeper meaning
@@bgeese1918 I think you missed the entire point of the conversation. We are quoting Vladimir Nabokov in he context of Lolita. The entire conversation is how people almost purposely take things out of context from the text itself to be mad at and cancel the author. You missed the mark with this one.
@@jen.m.3781 No I got the point of the conversation i swear. I even agree with what y’all said just except the quote (just a personal opinion that it’s not directly childish) I just wanted to point out how it’s not technically uncalled for when ppl “cancel an author” cause a lot times they end up being right abt it; now NOT all the time okay. I dont at all agree with doing such “purposely” of course just for the sake of “canceling this and that”. That wasnt at all my point. I just wanted to give some different insight. Like to study an author and their life even is not all negative: I remember reading about it and it was actually a positive experience for the person and what helped them like reading even more. So that’s why I said calling it “childish” is not accuratep
Regarding those pages that always get labeled as problematic, I find that equating something said by a fictional character to the author's truest opinion is a very shallow way of reading. Sure, there are people out there who express their ideas in their writing, but if we just say "bad thing is bad because bad", then we will never have stories that delve into those topics with the emotional maturity and social awareness that they need. It's best to have the chance and end up with subpar stories than not have it and read only what we already know.
@@thewolfandherbooks Exactly! And nobody thinks the author of Lolita is trying to justify the acts. It’s all just a way of expressing things an different perspectives that you’ll find yourself either agreeing to or feeling repulsed by.
It’s like if a book has a homophobic character, the book itself isn’t automatically homophobic. It rly depends on how the homophobia is handled and the character themselves
As a born and bred New Yorker who loves this city with a fiery passion, I can say with authority that Cindy is 1000% correct in saying that being trapped in the shithole that is the subway would be absolute hell on earth. Also, for the majority of this video I thought Riley Sager was female, so I was very confused as to why a female writer would have a female character be so fucking stupid as to get in a car with a strange man shortly after hearing about a serial killer being nearby. Then I found out that Riley Sager is a man. 'Ah. That makes sense now.'
I read a Goodreads review by someone from Flatbush talking about how much they hated that no real research was done into the subway part, for example having the main (and one of the very few) description of the pivotal station in the story being completely inaccurate to real life (the author says it’s outside when it’s an underground station I think?). They also talk about how the author had little understanding of the actual subway commute the main girl was doing and how she kept referring to stuff that just wouldn’t happen for logical geographical reasons. Mostly they explained that they felt it sucked that the main character made such a big deal of a small pancake dinner closing when she says she dreams to live in the East Village because historically, white people with a lot of money wanting to move into the East village is what is and has been causing its gentrification for the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour, its original inhabitants. I was so shocked at the hypocrisy I couldn’t bring myself to read to book after that, I wonder what you thought of it as a New Yorker ?
@@happyjellycatsquid That is interesting -- I haven't actually read the book myself. It's on my TBR, but I'm probably not going to get to it for a while, but when I (eventually) get around to it, I'll keep this in mind. Sorry I can't give more input at this moment!
@@GDChans It’s totally fine ! I was just curious if these elements would bug most New Yorker or solely people who are very knowledgeable of Flatbush’s rich history:)
I almost cried reading One Last Stop because I related to it so much. It was the first LGBT+ book that I've ever read and I coincidentally happened to read it just after I felt confident identifying as a lesbian. I never really understood romance before and how you could be so consumed by another person. Like, when I read A Court of Silver Flames I was like, oh, that's sweet. But then I read One Last Stop and it suddenly made sense??? Idk how to explain it. To me, the book was like a warm hug and I truly got to be myself reading it in a way that I'm not able to be completely out with my family yet. My one criticism though: I wish the author had spent a little longer on Jane adjusting to modern life, more specifically getting comfortable being out since obviously she wasn't able to do that in her time. I felt like that was glossed over a bit, but I guess that really wasn't the main focus of the book. I would love it if the author came out with some short stories, or A Court of Frost and Starlight type mini-book thingy because I really want to keep reading about August and Jane! Sorry for the long comment, loved the video as always Cindy!!
for me, casey mcquiston is a way of escapism to an ideal world where i can find a family and the people will accept my gender identity and sexuality. as an asian person with *very* conservative & homophobic parents, i am still closeted and seeing casey's characters (both from rwrb & ols) gives me so much hope for my future and it always feels like coming home and that's why they are in my list of favourite books. i can always read my favourite parts from those books and at least forget for a moment that i am in an environment where i cannot be myself. furthermore, OLS impacted me more than RWRB because of the found family trope and it makes me look forward to my life even if my situation is not the best right now lol. also, can jane whisk me away in her arms please?
I have the same exact feelings. I didn't read OLS yet but at lots of times towards the end of RWRB I was thinking or at least had in the back of my mind of how unrealistic this was, and how things would probably go differently in reality. This didn't stopped me tearing up and enjoying it, tho. The hope and comfort of these books is simply great.
In the acknowledgements page of RWRB, CMQ has written something along the lines of "to everyone in search of someplace to belong who happened to pick up this book, I hope you found a place here, even just for a few pages. I wrote this for you" and like you said, that's exactly why I love their books
@@withcindy it's not exactly the same but it reminds me of the criticisms for her book, Eleanor and Park where there's a half asian boy with a lot of internalized racism and it's never even resolved by the end of the story, plus there was lots fetishizing and stuff 😬
@@withcindy also in eleanor and park the asian mcs first name is park even though (by my knowledge i could be totally wrong) park is very much a surname and rarely used as a given name
I've heard so many good things about rex white and royal blue and one last stop and i can't wait to read them, rw&rb is literally sold out in my country right now, it'll take a few weeks for my bookshop to get it
@@juliasz.1017 as a POC I really honestly don't think so? Not only is the main character not white, but I really can't think of a single racist thing that was said in that book. Have you read it or are you going off of something someone has put out on social media?
Recently I unfollowed a fav TikTok book account because she started pulling quotes without context from books and to make fun of the authors. To the point in which if ANY character said something problematic, bad, uncool or even THOUGHT it. It bothers the fuck out of me how we are moving in a direction in which fictional characters can't have biases, issues, learn or change in any capacity. Sheesh.
I find it odd that people get mad at a piece of media because a character did something "wrong" and it was the point. the point of the scene is that the character said something selfish/ignorant/rude/etc. but then people assume the creator is saying that its the right thing to do
Agreed. If people make their character perfect, they're hated on for being a Mary Sure or something. If people give them valid flaws that can be worked on through development, they're hated on for being "stupid, uneducated, ignorant, bratty" ect. I've seen it with legitimate character ignorance so it's understandable at a certain rate. Except, I've seen it with characters who are depressed and lash out, or have insecurities and shut themselves off. Then people are acting like this doesn't really happen and say stupid shit like "well they should just be grateful they have a decent support system". That's all with main characters too if its a side character they are rarely forgiven for their mistakes. A main character can make the same mistake as a side character and they'll be treated completely differently. In romance books its so muddy too. The love interest can be super creepy or abusive and everyone will just forgive them and love them, but if its a well written character with acceptable flaws people act like their mistakes are the end of the world. I just want the hypocrisy, contradictory statements, and double standards to STOP! If people want good plots and characters then they need to allow the development of these characters as well.
13:01 as a Palestinian, I actually encourage people to discuss the topic of P/I even if they have no stakes in this conflict and even if I disagree with their take. You don't have to be Palestinian to comment on the issue. Don't be deterred and don't let people tell you that you can't comment simply because you don't live in the region. I always criticize other countries like Saudi Arabia and China and the US for the crimes they commit-even though I'm not originally from any of these countries, no one seems to have a problem with that. It's better to talk about this issue instead of ignoring it and acting like it doesn't affect a lot of us (including Americans who's taxes are involved in this!) Talk! Talk! Talk about it!
thank you! i worry about speaking over the voices of the marginalized ppl though, esp since i am obviously not as well informed bc i dont have the same experiences. what were ur thoughts on the way RWRB had mentioned israel?
@@withcindy hey, I just wanted to say that I'm not Palestinian either, but I have been closely following what has been happening in Palestine for the past two months or so as well as doing a lot of research on the topic- and although I wouldn't consider myself an expert, I do think it is necessary for everyone to learn more about what is happening in Palestine. So I personally would say that you definitely shouldn't be afraid of raising your voice! I think you should absolutely do research as well as read up on it, but I would also say to be wary of any information you recieve from the western and major media outlets. And with regards to the mention of 'israel' in rwrb, I would say that as a pro-palestinian, any mention of 'Israel' as a state in any book in which its mention is not absolutely necessary or contributing to the plot in any way is normalizing the occupation and ethnic cleansing talking place in Palestine. This is a conversation that needs to be had- it has been hidden under the covers for far too long. I don't wish to push my opinions onto you, but just to get you to see another pov on the matter. Your voice matters. I hope this helps!
"on the internet, people like to use their marginalization as a weapon to bolster their social currency but in the real world.... that shit will just get u hate crimed" perhaps she snapped. Cindy speaking facts
As a chinese american that wasnt even the part i was offended by. What i had more so gotten offended by was the way August thought and talked to and about Jane. It felt very gross. For one thing Jane's entire existance revolved around August spending time with her. So we have a chinese woman who's entire life hinges around a white woman. There is a moment where the two get in a fight so August leaves the subway and refuses to take it. So that Jane would get she was upset and have to suffer and feel bad bc august feels bad. The fight they got in was about how August wanted Jane to give up her entire life and stay with her bc "i love you" and Jane was upset that all her friends and family are dead or think she is dead. Its not August who apologizes in the books. Its Jane. Bc Jane cant remember who she is if august is away for too long. That alone feels like something out of a horror novel.
I’m hella late but I just finished the book and I remember Cindy talked about it so I came back to this video. I agree with your comment so much. I did not like this book, though some of the writing is beautiful, because I didn’t care for the romance. This poor woman is stuck in the subway and (spoiler) I just wanted her to go back to the 70s!! Return to her family and her life. This book was all about august (who was so boring and annoying to me) when the clear superstar is the queer punk Asian American woman who’s hitchhiked around the country, and fought to save her friends’ and her community’s lives. And she doesn’t get the ending I wanted for her, something far grander and deeper than spending her life with her “soulmate” in a tiny Brooklyn apartment. Maybe that’s endearing to some, but it just didn’t click with me (no hate to anyone who loved the book ofc, like I said I enjoyed the writing)
"How do u rate One Last Stop?" me: well I work full time at a pancake house now and is making it my mission as a queer, asian woman to make the Su special happen
As a Palestinian, I honestly do not understand the critique of Casey and that Israel line in RWRB, and I feel like the complaints were made by mostly "activists"(Non-Palestinians) And although I haven't read One Last Stop yet, I'm going to assume it's the same situation
I’m glad to hear you say that. As a diaspora Jew (I.e. someone who very much stands in the firing line of a lot of misguided “pro-Palestinian” activism) I found it pretty wild that people object to a line that seems only to suggest that it is possible to make an invalid criticism of Israel. There are valid criticisms of rwrb but it looks like that one is made only by people who tear things down for their own self-image and don’t actually care about improving life for anyone
I feel like Survive the night could be nice with the concept of choose your own adventure books and based on which decisions you make you either end op dead or alive. It’s childish but the first thing that came into my head
One Last Stop brings me so much unexpected joy. I don't usually reach for contemporary romances, because it is just not a genre for me, but I thought that the speculative time element in the premise was so interesting so I took a gamble. And I loved it. I am sad we are not seeing as much about it as we did with Red, White, and Royal Blue, but I also can't say I'm surprised. I even had seen reviews of people dnfing it or giving it low ratings because it was a w/w relationship, and them even saying that they loved Red, White, and Royal Blue because it was two guys and they were attracted to them? I wish people treated lgbt+ books better is the point, and I am happy to actually see a positive review of it. (Also thank you for addressing that one page in One Last Stop, because I have seen a little bit of discussion about it but not much.)
I appreciate you giving your perspective on these types of topics. It's really nice to hear creators talk about "drama" not as gossip but as an actual opinion if we're thinking critically for ourselves or just jumping on the bandwagon. Also I am SO excited to read The Heart Principle and can't wait for it!!!! I have the ebook pre-ordered already 😍
You definitely should read more Nghi Vo! When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain and the Empress of Salt and Fortune are amazing novellas and her style really shines through in them. Also they’re sapphic af.
Cindy's character arc from "Do you think Id choose to be straight??" To "Id want to go on a date with a hot chick if I could" is the same as me being "Ahh Im just a supportive ally" in the beginning when I discovered this channel to now "Panromantic Demisexual disaster who's also questioning their gender"
day 1 of suggesting: reading the most popular fanfiction (one from each ship/fandom in the top rankings) i feel like fan fiction gets a pretty bad rep for being poorly written and i'd love to see your thoughts on the most popular ones, esp those written on ao3 as opposed to the ones on wattpad that younger writers frequent. ao3 has an entirely different audience and i don't know, i just feel like it'd be fun!
Aww two authors fighting over nonsense this is like the Omega verse all over again😂😂😂 Also the southern book club guide to slaying vampires definitely have to check it out sounds kind of fun
Fun fact: it's funny that Riley Sager made a dig at Grady Hedrix for a similar premise because Grady did an interview with a podcast recently (not sure which one, my friend listened and told me about it) where he said he wrote Final Girls Support Group a while ago, but Riley's book ended up being published first and so they put it on hold. It was only within the last year that he decided to workshop his draft and then they published it. So really it just seems like they both had similar ideas, Riley just got his book out first. Personally, I enjoy Grady's writing style way more than Riley's so I'm interested to read his book.
I am a huge Grady fan and in my opinion you can honestly tell it's earlier work. His voice and style of writing has evolved so much over the years, and you can see that growth through his books. The final girls support group felt like a step back but once I heard him say it was older work I appreciated it a lot more. I still wish he would of done a little or a lot rewriting. I did read it twice though so I clearly didn't hate ot or anything 😂 also it was lots of fun being that I love horror movies and this was such a shout out to so many classics.
Riley sager has rubbed me the wrong way since day one. Something about assuming a feminine pen name and writing female protags to market to women..... I don't like it. I'm not saying he's problematique or anything just that I personally don't like it lol
Man, I hated The Southern Book Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires, so f*cking much. But I can't describe why without spoiling it 😭 I just think the whole book deserves to be in the men writing women subreddit. Also, how did they not all leave their husbands by the end!? Argh, it was just frustrating.
The roach scene in The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires made me want to fucking die. I am so unreasonably excited that we read this book at the same time, and that I agree with you about basically everything lol. I hated the villain as a person, but loved him as a villain because I have an endless craving for vampires that are actual monsters. I get why he went with Patricia as the protagonist, but Mrs. Greene definitely would have been a more interesting perspective. She did all the heavy lifting. I also think all the white people got off way too easy especially when you compare the consequences they have to deal with to what happened to Mrs. Greene’s neighborhood. Also, I absolutely hate the way the Nazi shit with Blue is never addressed in a serious way. If it was meant to be a recurring joke or something it really wasn’t funny because all I could think was “this dude is going to be in DC on January 6th if someone doesn’t address this soon” but maybe I’m just too stupid to get what he was going for with all that.
Dude the roach scene was SOOOO GROSSS I just knew the author had a lot of fun writing that tho lol and also yeah the son gave me major red flags, I'm sure that was added to make him and James bond which also helped give James a red flag by extension since he knew so much about Nazis lol. But Patricia was like "aww they're bonding" and I was like GIRL?
omfg yess i loved that book so much but the nazi empathizer of a son needed to be… eaten by giant rats, with peace and love. 😂 i haven’t gotten to the cindys opinion on it as i’m typing this but gah i’m so curious what cindys thoughts are👀😁 i freaking love that book i still think about it all the time
I largely loved OLS - partly because the main character is literally me down to her exact birthdate - but I definitely noticed a few pacing and continuity problems and, as a Black reader, I recognized a common trope that Black side characters can’t seem to shake that I could comment on. It’s definitely not without critique points but it’s honestly just fluffy and cute and full of found family goodness that pulled me out of my reading slump. It’s been frustrating to see a rise in readers of mlm romance basically admit to disliking the book primarily because they’re squeamish about reading a sexually explicit wlw romance.
Twenty minutes I tried to avoid defending the NY subway. I failed. In short, it's an alternate reality, where those who ride it day after day, week after week, year after year gradually absorb the milieu and become part of it. And it's extremely diverse. Generally the people are sympathetic, recognizing common malaises - and it's a great place to read.
Honestly, the plot of Imposter Syndrome could've been improved had the main girls just teamed up, and destroyed the company from within and then ran away together to start a new life. Because fuck it, I'd like me some wlw spies just living their best life.
With the One Last Stop criticism, I kinda think it's more about 'I'm tagged in this picture and I don't like it'. Well-meaning white person who gives a kinda empty platitude due to wanting to give reassurance and support but not understanding the full extent of the problem and that 'it'll be okay
I can def see how that would get annoying (and have experienced similar lol) so I don't blame the asian character for snapping at her tbh! Cuz some ppl really don't understand what ur going thru
I've become vary wary of white authors these days I just can't handle when characters have sex outside and its always white authors who just decide to have them have sex in the woods, or at the pool or on the SUBWAY. And I love how you mentioned Casey knowing the city. I read a whole rant on Casey not actually knowing Brooklyn. Mainly pointed out that the Q train is detailed by August wrong. The train actually goes the opposite way August describes
I haven’t read one last stop yet, but it is on my shelf. I’m in a slump and just can’t convince myself to- but the FF IS CALLING ME!! I’m so glad you loved it. I am also biased towards FF (I somehow hardly come across them though), and it makes me more excited for when I eventually get the motivation to read it!
@Depressed Gay Wizard Thank you, I’ll be sure to check it out! I don’t tend to read romance and lean towards fantasy so that may be why I tend to struggle (:
Spoiler alert for One Last Stop… I think I had the opposite reaction to the ending haha. Like I KNOW it’s a romance and so the characters are supposed to get their happy ever after, but it was just sooo cheesy to me that Jane just showed up a couple weeks later and instantly slotted into modern life and everything was hunky dory. After all the stuff they talked about with her family and friends, it seemed like to me the best ending for Jane would have been to go home.
i can literally go with my day happily right after watching cindy talk about books she either enjoyed or hated or neither, i hope you're taking care of yourself! love you
i love that i can instantly access a cindy video to fit every conversation. someone was talking about avatar the other day, i linked the acotar > avatar video. another person was talking about kinks, i linked her kink tier ranking. there's a cindy for every occasion and i will never unsubscribe 💖
Adding The Southern Book Club on my TBR! After reading The Hunting Wives by May Cobb, I've realized how fun it is to follow these wives and/or moms on a thriller book. Thank you for a new video, Cindyyyyy! Stay safe and healthy! 🙌🏽💕
I'm currently reading 'Southern's Book Club...' as well and I have so much fun reading it. I love that genre mix of 'Desperate Housewives' meets 'Fright Night' (the remake with hot vampire Colin Farrell).
Yassss, more videos by you 😩😩😩. Dude, your voice is just *cheif's kiss*, recently I've been watching a bunch of old videos by you, it's fun listening to you tbh, you always have something interesting to say. I have shit focus so your videos keep me on track most of the time.
would you consider making a video sharing your opinions on different book covers as a designer? i felt like the covers for the books you reviewed this month were cool, and it'd be super interesting to hear your thoughts!
I just got a copy of the southern book club's guide to slaying vampires because of your goodreads review! It's kinda fun to read what you have to say on a book AND watch you talk about it cause you're inimitable!
Cindy I often wonder how you choose your books to read, do you have a huge list compiled or do you go off of recommendations/trending books? Much love as always!x
