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A review by kirklandprosecco
Just by Looking at Him by Ryan O'Connell
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
First, let's start by saying this book is very funny and very sexually graphic. If you have trouble with graphic sex scenes, you won't be able to avoid those in this book. I have no such hangups (so I thought) but even I found myself blushing sometimes. The best parts about this book were about the author's / narrator’s disability and how it affected his sexual and overall confidence. As a woman of a certain age, I know something about society's messaging about bodies and sex, but this was from a whole other perspective on a whole other level and I appreciated it. The sweetest parts were about his relationship with his father. Although the book was very funny, I felt that a some of the humor deflected from the narrator’s "inner work" and the one-liners were used a bit defensively. As a memoir / novel (honestly it was hard to tell how much of this was or wasn’t biographical, it hit all the beats, but I actually wanted it to get more serious and delve more deeply into the feelings. That said, it is definitely worth a read or listen, and it left me wanting to read a memoir or informational book about CP.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Alcohol