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prebeartobemoosified's review
really poorly formatted and edited. a fine story that makes u feel a little bit worse. hard to rate..some of it was funny…the character was developed well and v believable in the constant inconsistency and contradictions. often sad and uncomfortable. all the characters are so oddly real—unable to be really categorized or characterized bc they all make choices and verbalize ideas that fall away from who they seemed to be but in a lifelike way rather than a poorly written way. i wouldn’t recommend it but it’s certainly gripping.
lisawhelpley's review against another edition
3.0
First of all - I saw this listed as a memoir when I bought it. Unfortunately, when you read on a Kindle, you don't see a book jacket, or anything indicating it's a novel. This is a novel. I didn't find that out until I finished the book today. I feel stupid that I didn't figure that out, but I'm kind of surprised because the book was awkward and kind of did read like a memoir, in that it wasn't elaborate or thorough...as if it really were a memoir by somebody who didn't remember much, but did remember odd details.
This book kept me reading -- I wanted to see what was going to happen. I won't spoil the ending but the way it ended didn't satisfy me.
I was appalled by the errors and formatting in this book. Terrible and disappointing, coming from McSweeney's.
This book kept me reading -- I wanted to see what was going to happen. I won't spoil the ending but the way it ended didn't satisfy me.
I was appalled by the errors and formatting in this book. Terrible and disappointing, coming from McSweeney's.
bmanglass's review against another edition
4.0
Blatantly lifting this review from a comment I wrote to a Goodreads friend who asked how I was enjoying it. :P Somewhat absurd in its plotting, very stream of consciousness, but with real heart underneath and the MC's voice is extremely well-developed and believable. Funny, too!
natesea's review against another edition
1.0
This is a dated, cliched, and at times offensive tale of a lost soul trying to find salvation from being gay though born-again Christianity. It tries to be funny, tries to empathize with the main character's naivety , tries too hard. None of the pathetic caricatures in this book are likeable, have redeemable qualities, or are 300-pages-worth of your time.
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
God Says No is the story of Gary Gray who marries his first girlfriend while they are both attending a Christian college, despite knowing he is gay. Sexual incompatibility mars the marriage. He flees and plans to take a year trying to get the gay out of his system. When that doesn’t work he agrees to try Christian conversion therapy, which unsurprisingly doesn’t stop him being gay either. This was a tough read. His sense of shame was heartbreaking and the conversion “therapy” infuriated me. The damage Gary did to his wife by marrying her is obvious and it would be easy to judge him for that. But of course his actions have to be placed in context of a young man steeped in Christianity who believes that an innate part of him is wrong. Additionally Gary faced fat phobia which was never challenged. I was disappointed that this book didn’t take a strong stance against conversion therapy and that Gary didn’t get to fully and joyfully embrace his sexual identity. I wonder how this story would change if it were being written now as opposed to when it was actually written more than a decade ago.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Racism
leighnonymous's review against another edition
3.0
This disappointing story simply doesn't follow through on the major tenet of its plot: whether or not homosexuality can be accepted by an individual who is predisposed to those feelings. The abrupt ending does little more than dismiss that internal struggle, concluding instead with Gary accepting his duty to fatherhood. This is a cop-out, in my opinion; he cannot defer his struggle with homosexuality while he figures out how to be a father.
I hoped that somewhere in the book he would learn to love himself and accept himself as he was made, learn a little from other strong characters in the book, like Miquel or Manny. Instead, he berates himself with the most hateful part of religion he can find. It was difficult to read the brainwashing he went through for an entire year while he attempted to "pray the gay out." This made me hate - yes, hate - religion even more for how it preys upon our feelings and makes us hate ourselves, believing every normal temptation is a mortal sin.
I didn't care for his clueless wife, Annie; she cried and whined and really should have just stepped out of the picture.
The "year of free checking" was amazing to read. I loved reading about him wandering through Midtown Atlanta, learning about himself and his urges. I think he misplaced his disappointment with the experience and attributed it to being bad at being gay as opposed to being human and failing at a relationship.
This reminded me a lot of "The Dive From Clausen's Pier" because you root for the main character to start over and discover who he/she is and make a new life only to find one's tail between one's legs, retreating. Gary, you are good enough! Get out there and embrace your homosexuality!
I hoped that somewhere in the book he would learn to love himself and accept himself as he was made, learn a little from other strong characters in the book, like Miquel or Manny. Instead, he berates himself with the most hateful part of religion he can find. It was difficult to read the brainwashing he went through for an entire year while he attempted to "pray the gay out." This made me hate - yes, hate - religion even more for how it preys upon our feelings and makes us hate ourselves, believing every normal temptation is a mortal sin.
I didn't care for his clueless wife, Annie; she cried and whined and really should have just stepped out of the picture.
The "year of free checking" was amazing to read. I loved reading about him wandering through Midtown Atlanta, learning about himself and his urges. I think he misplaced his disappointment with the experience and attributed it to being bad at being gay as opposed to being human and failing at a relationship.
This reminded me a lot of "The Dive From Clausen's Pier" because you root for the main character to start over and discover who he/she is and make a new life only to find one's tail between one's legs, retreating. Gary, you are good enough! Get out there and embrace your homosexuality!
mieldog's review against another edition
4.0
A good read! Hopefully these types of books will be historical fiction one day.
k_aldrich's review against another edition
2.0
Premise: devout, fat, black Christian man discovers he has homosexual desires and struggles fighting against them for basically the rest of his life.
This was a hard book to read and sad. It was sad because the main character (Gary Gray) had so many toxic internalizations that effected his life. He struggled with body image and negatively brought up his weight on the regular and he had very toxic attitudes towards homosexuality (which is the point of the book I know but that doesn’t make reading it easier). When he is in a program to affirm his love of Christ and working to not be gay he has “masculinity repair” sessions like group therapy. I think this is grounded in a reality and when I’m exposed to those moments of reality it pushes me away. I don’t want to read about someone learning toxic masculinity, but it does make sense for this story. Structurally this book felt too long. It almost has a stream of conscious feel to it (and those books aren’t my cup of tea).
While this is likely an important book, it was difficult to get through.
This was a hard book to read and sad. It was sad because the main character (Gary Gray) had so many toxic internalizations that effected his life. He struggled with body image and negatively brought up his weight on the regular and he had very toxic attitudes towards homosexuality (which is the point of the book I know but that doesn’t make reading it easier). When he is in a program to affirm his love of Christ and working to not be gay he has “masculinity repair” sessions like group therapy. I think this is grounded in a reality and when I’m exposed to those moments of reality it pushes me away. I don’t want to read about someone learning toxic masculinity, but it does make sense for this story. Structurally this book felt too long. It almost has a stream of conscious feel to it (and those books aren’t my cup of tea).
While this is likely an important book, it was difficult to get through.
pturnbull's review
4.0
This is the story of a gay man who was raised within the African American Christian evangelical tradition. The book is divided into three sections that correspond to radically different periods of Gary Gray's life. The first section is the most difficult to relate to. This is when Gary is deeply closeted and his personality is not appealing, because he is living a lie. In the second section, Gary explores a fuller, richer, more honest personality, though he is not comfortable with it, and it is still not entirely honest, but that is when I began to truly enjoy the novel. There are remarkably complex characters here, no stereotypes, no caricatures, nor villains, even when Gary enters into a homosexual recovery program. We meet a multitude of characters who struggle to reconcile their identity with society;their differing responses and varying degrees of success are all believable. The ending is also well done and satisfying. This book was a finalist for the Lambda Award. I recommend it highly.