Reviews with content warning for Rape - Golden Boy

I feel like readers, regardless of their gender or sexual identity, will be able to relate to our main character, Max. At its core this is a story of a teenager trying to navigate an incredibly tough time in their life while trying to stay as ‘normal’ as possible.

The complexity of the story lies in the fact that Max is intersex (of which there are variations, which I didn’t know) and is violated by a trusted person, which has a ripple effect, altering Max’s life and the lives of those closest to him.

The story is multi-POV, being told from the following points of view:
* Max
* Max’s mum
* Max’s brother
* Max’s dad
* Max’s doctor
* Max’s girlfriend

It was important to me that each POV was explored, rather than having the whole story told solely from Max’s perspective. It made the story feel more real.

One of the biggest themes of the book by far, was bodily autonomy. What right did Max’s offender have to violate Max? How much information about Max’s condition should the Dr/ his parents have volunteered? What is the appropriate way to handle a teen pregnancy and who should be handling those decisions?

I think it’s incredibly fitting that I wrote this review on the day that the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade decision. If I were a less cynical person, I’d believe those Justice’s and the ‘pro-lifers’ would be more compassionate towards Max. Come to think of it, it’s probably a good thing the story is set in the UK.

Content warnings:
⚠️Rape
⚠️Abortion
⚠️Attempted suicide

Content Warnings

majahultqvist's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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stellastellaef's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.5

I really love this book. It was sad, I mean completely heart wrenching, but I love a book that makes me uncontrollably sob while reading. While being sad it also explains a lot about being intersex and also the medical terms that come with it.

We can also see how Max's mum is embarrassed and wants her son to be her normal, perfect golden boy. Therefore she tries to keep Max's sex a secret. And she also does something unforgivable. Right before Max is about to fall asleep from the anesthesia for his abortion, he changes his mind; he wants to wait longer, he needs more time. His mother chooses to pretend not to hear this, putting her own agenda over her son's. She just wants his (and her own) life to continue smoothly. Although Max said he probably would've chosen to abort anyway it was cruel for his mother to not give him more time to even accept and realise what happened to him.

But I just really love this book. I read it for school but I probably would have read it on my own as well.

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queenfury's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I'm conflicted in how I feel about this one. I went into it expecting a powerful, painful but necessary read. But after a while, it seems like it turned into trauma porn. Absolutely nothing goes Max's way, and he is stripped of all autonomy in every decision in his life, both due to being "a pushover" who doesn't want to rock his already fragile family and as a "scientific interest." At first, I recognized this as a reflection of his intersexuality and how it didn't feel like it belonged to him, but even after

the characters went, "Gee, maybe we should let Max have control of his own body," after his mother tells the surgeons to proceed with an abortion after Max withdraws his consent, his choices in not wanting to be around his mother anymore and not reporting his rapist to the police or his parents are taken away from him yet again.

I also found the writing itself to be quite bad. The POV shifts are frequent and often unnecessary. Aside from the literal child narrator, who is overly intelligent for his age due to autism (which is never remarked upon by any character), each character has the same narrative voice with almost no distinguishing features. The characters besides Max felt bland and two-dimensional.

Ultimately, I feel like this is a book with important themes that it misses the mark on.

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eliasiexil's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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katymitchell's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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danielle2121's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

*Re-read - 2022*
This is still such an important book, and truly heart wrenching the whole way through.
I must say there are a few things like views and opinions that may be considered a little out-dated for 2022 when it comes to gender identity, but for the most part everything holds up and still has such important messages at heart.

A wonder of a book.

*First read - 2017*
This book is so god damned important.
I wholeheartedly believe that EVERYONE in the whole world should read it.

This is the first time I've found myself unable to write a review for a book I've read, but truthfully, I'm completely lost for words.

Wow...

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