Scan barcode
katiehartsreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
killyennn's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars!
i picked this up at the library with no context, having never heard of it, and without looking it up on goodreads first. i’m glad i did that, because looking at the other reviews i wouldn’t have given it a chance if i had seen them first.
even so, i kind of thought i would hate this book and DNF it. the plot is over the top, the characters sound immensely cliché, and my initial few-page skim showed some painful dialogue that was awkward and uncomfortable. i gave it a chance anyway, and completely devoured this book in about 3 hours.
what i thought would be fun in a ha-ha way, turned out to be a pretty poignant and intriguing portrayal of the clash of small-town, rural america and The Gays ™️ coming in from NYC and LA on behalf of a nonprofit looking to work with what was named the most homophobic town in America, to see how people’s minds may change when confronted with living among, and getting to know real life queers. this is a series of interconnected short stories that span perspectives from teenagers to elder folks living in assisted care.
what i loved most about this book was how the author took cliché stereotypes and an oversimplified, idealistic plot and brought immense complexity, empathy, and nuance to every character’s story. don’t mistake this for me saying that every character is likable because they certainly aren’t, and this doesn’t read as a “we just need to befriend homophobes and they’ll magically stop murdering us”, either. but rather, an interesting and at times, incisive look at the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that many of us are going through similar experiences, even though our lives and approaches are immensely different.
give this one a chance and it will probably surprise you! it’s certainly one of the most unique books i’ve read this year.
i picked this up at the library with no context, having never heard of it, and without looking it up on goodreads first. i’m glad i did that, because looking at the other reviews i wouldn’t have given it a chance if i had seen them first.
even so, i kind of thought i would hate this book and DNF it. the plot is over the top, the characters sound immensely cliché, and my initial few-page skim showed some painful dialogue that was awkward and uncomfortable. i gave it a chance anyway, and completely devoured this book in about 3 hours.
what i thought would be fun in a ha-ha way, turned out to be a pretty poignant and intriguing portrayal of the clash of small-town, rural america and The Gays ™️ coming in from NYC and LA on behalf of a nonprofit looking to work with what was named the most homophobic town in America, to see how people’s minds may change when confronted with living among, and getting to know real life queers. this is a series of interconnected short stories that span perspectives from teenagers to elder folks living in assisted care.
what i loved most about this book was how the author took cliché stereotypes and an oversimplified, idealistic plot and brought immense complexity, empathy, and nuance to every character’s story. don’t mistake this for me saying that every character is likable because they certainly aren’t, and this doesn’t read as a “we just need to befriend homophobes and they’ll magically stop murdering us”, either. but rather, an interesting and at times, incisive look at the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that many of us are going through similar experiences, even though our lives and approaches are immensely different.
give this one a chance and it will probably surprise you! it’s certainly one of the most unique books i’ve read this year.
aliciarosebane's review against another edition
4.0
I very much enjoyed this book. The pacing is great and the characters are written with depth and nuance. Even with only a short number of pages allocated to each character, every person's story feels complete and well rounded. I couldn't put it down. Highly recommend!
alegz's review against another edition
1.0
obrzydliwa, wulgarna, okropna, fuj.
Na szczęście słuchałam w audiobooku ale nawet tutaj coś zepsuli i jest dwóch lektorów, co trochę wybija z rytmu.
Nie mogę polecić ani troszeczkę. Sam pomysł brzmiał ciekawie ale... fuj
Na szczęście słuchałam w audiobooku ale nawet tutaj coś zepsuli i jest dwóch lektorów, co trochę wybija z rytmu.
Nie mogę polecić ani troszeczkę. Sam pomysł brzmiał ciekawie ale... fuj
jcola24's review against another edition
4.0
What an enjoyable, quick read. I devoured this book. Each chapter highlights one person's story and inevitably, their connection to the same group of people. It is a touching book - about coming of age, self discovery, and discovering who and what matters. Loved it.
piddlepiddle's review against another edition
2.0
While I appreciate what this book was trying to do, it didn't feel that realistic or true to form of what homophobia is like in small towns. The characters felt like stereotypes of who they were supposed to be; the homophobic white lady who is god-fearing but also hates her life and husband, etc. I guess it was nice to have a HEA ending, but it also felt unrealistic.
This book did make me tear up and at certain parts it was hard to read because of the homophobia/transphobia, but at other parts I was cringing at how stereotypical certain characters arcs and stories were. If the characters were further fleshed out and certain topics were explored more I would have enjoyed the book a lot more.
I really liked the portion of where Tegan had to deal with seeing the perspectives of the other townspeople. I think it could have been an interesting study to delve further into that topic of should we try to be nice and understanding to those who are not nice and understanding to us? And how Christine's portion talked about how hate covered up other emotions. I feel like this book set out to cover the many facets of homophobia, but it would have been better (imo) to focus on one facet and deep dive into it. Because of all the different topics covered it all felt very surface level and stereotypical.
This book did make me tear up and at certain parts it was hard to read because of the homophobia/transphobia, but at other parts I was cringing at how stereotypical certain characters arcs and stories were. If the characters were further fleshed out and certain topics were explored more I would have enjoyed the book a lot more.
I really liked the portion of where Tegan had to deal with seeing the perspectives of the other townspeople. I think it could have been an interesting study to delve further into that topic of should we try to be nice and understanding to those who are not nice and understanding to us? And how Christine's portion talked about how hate covered up other emotions. I feel like this book set out to cover the many facets of homophobia, but it would have been better (imo) to focus on one facet and deep dive into it. Because of all the different topics covered it all felt very surface level and stereotypical.
stacy837's review against another edition
Way too homophobic to be enjoyable
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
i_masad's review against another edition
5.0
What an incredible book. Celia Laskey writes with such generosity of spirit and at the same time pulls no punches. She recognizes her characters' flaws and foibles and draws them lovingly, even when they're not the most likeable of people. The way she manages to tell the story of a whole small town over two years through just a few voices - each unique and entirely belonging to its own person - is truly astonishing.
vaparks's review against another edition
2.0
"...if we listened to our fear whenever it started getting loud, we’d never do anything.”
This book was a struggle for me-- as you can tell by my two months it took me to finish it. It was my book club's September book pick, and I have missed book club two consecutive months for still being stuck on this one. For me, it was entirely due to the writing style. The way the book was formatted with its multiple, single-use narrators left me with a muddy, incohesive storyline.
To be fair, I am typically not a reader who enjoys multiple narrators anyway, but I have found in the past that if a story is compelling enough, and the characters are well-fleshed out, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Unfortunately, since every chapter is a different character in the story, it left me with a bunch of surface-level relationships with each one, longing to understand them more. I wish Laskey would have chosen fewer characters to narrate, and used them on more than one occasion, so the Reader had the opportunity to dive deeper with them and have a better connection to the plotline.
Overall, it was quite "put-downable" for me, which I hate to say because I had high hopes for this one. The good news? I've finally finished it and can start my book club's November pick on time!
This book was a struggle for me-- as you can tell by my two months it took me to finish it. It was my book club's September book pick, and I have missed book club two consecutive months for still being stuck on this one. For me, it was entirely due to the writing style. The way the book was formatted with its multiple, single-use narrators left me with a muddy, incohesive storyline.
To be fair, I am typically not a reader who enjoys multiple narrators anyway, but I have found in the past that if a story is compelling enough, and the characters are well-fleshed out, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Unfortunately, since every chapter is a different character in the story, it left me with a bunch of surface-level relationships with each one, longing to understand them more. I wish Laskey would have chosen fewer characters to narrate, and used them on more than one occasion, so the Reader had the opportunity to dive deeper with them and have a better connection to the plotline.
Overall, it was quite "put-downable" for me, which I hate to say because I had high hopes for this one. The good news? I've finally finished it and can start my book club's November pick on time!
rabbit_reads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0