Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

17 reviews

kjlewis494's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Cursing, Cancer, and Domestic abuse

badbadwolf's review

adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Addiction, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Outing, Homophobia, Cancer, Death, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Grief

tigger89's review

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

RuPaul is no doubt a complicated figure. While I wouldn't call myself a fan, not just due to his behavior but also his artistic genre being Not My Thing, I acknowledge his position as one of the most influential LGBTQ people today. I also think it's important to hear what our queer elders have to say, even if they don't always do things we agree with. Still, not being a particular fan of Drag Race myself, I wasn't sure if this memoir would have much of anything for me. I was happy to be proven wrong.

The story picks up in his early childhood back in the '60s, with his parents'  divorce. As he traces his life through his teenage years and into his 20s, he reflects on the double-edged sword of his independence and drive, values instilled in him by his mother. I was satisfied with how well this narrative held true from chapter to chapter, driving straight from his childhood through to his troubled adult relationships. It felt like a memoir that had something specific to say, rather than merely being a collection of related anecdotes from someone's life.

While each chapter centers around a specific place or theme, he mostly keeps it linear, avoiding a lot of the jumping from childhood to adulthood and back again that tends to happen in queer memoir. That said, I did sometimes struggle to grasp how much time was passing. I knew roughly where I was in relation to other things, but at times I couldn't have told you if RuPaul was 20 or 25, 25 or 30. The ending in particular surprised me, as I'd failed to realize just how far into the 90s we'd gotten. Part of this might be my age, as I don't necessarily have the innate knowledge of when the various cultural touchstones were current and I wasn't looking them up as fastidiously as I could have been.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Cancer, Drug use, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Racial slurs

katemeadow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Addiction, Drug use, and Cancer

devynreadsnovels's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Addiction, Abandonment, Violence, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Biphobia, Bullying, Transphobia, Cancer, and Infidelity

macncheese_pdf's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual assault

_aurora_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Grief, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Bullying, Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

deepcurvesahead's review

dark hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Homophobia, Drug use, and Alcoholism

nicollej's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

I loved listening to RuPaul narrate this memoir. If you’re looking for drag race info, this isn’t it. It’s his story up until he really broke through. It’s inspiring and a quick read.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

brea's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Violence, Racism, Bullying, and Homophobia