Reviews

Czarny Flaming by Dean Atta

dnndavie's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

evitaveda's review against another edition

4.0

“He is me, who I have been, who I am, who I hope to become. Someone fabulous, wild and strong. With or without a costume on.” 

A beautiful story written in verse about a boy who tries to figure out his place in the world. As a mixed race kid, Michael feels “not Black enough”, “not Greek enough” and even at times, “not queer enough.” This is the tale about how he figures everything out. 

The story starts from Michael’s childhood and we follow him through his life. Along the way he makes friends, comes out, falls in love, doubts, fears, and hopes. All the while trying to answer that age old question “where do I belong?” 

I won’t say much more, but I found this a moving story and I absolutely recommend it! 

Try this if you like:
🦩Poetic writing
🦩LGBTQIA+ rep
🦩Discussions about race
🦩Drag
🦩Stories about finding your place in the world 

zestyez's review against another edition

5.0

This was such an amzing book! Beautifully written and literally just perfect.

freja_johansen's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

5.0

jem_1984's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

tnms137's review against another edition

inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I love this book! All these different aspects, the story, characters, formating by themselves and together are just amazing. Everything is perfect. Dean Atta expresses so much through a couple of sentences, a couple of illustrations, the occasional white on black writing. The story feels so authentic (possible similarities between author and mc) and there is such a big gap of story’s about drag so I hope this inspires an uprising of such stories. And still, throughout this thoughtful informative story, I giggled and kicked my feet occasionally. I’M IN LOVE.

emskie_22's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

adisiki's review against another edition

4.5

Read as an audiobook! This was great, it was a quick and easy read and it was beautiful, full of life, identity, and queerness. I liked how it followed Michael’s life from his childhood through university and how he came to terms with his identity and finding his community.

queerly_reading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

chainingbooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

5.0