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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.
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.
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
_aurora_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
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
aus10england's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
3.75
Written very well but then it just... ended? This felt like part one in a two part memoir.
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
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