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smittenforfiction's review against another edition
4.0
Stray City is a nostalgic read, especially for those born in the 80s, teens who listened to music on walk-mans, made mixed tapes, and had Myspace profiles. There are parts of this story that are heart-wrenching, but also humour, and a big dollop of quirky-ness.
Gender, sexism, sexuality, family, acceptance, and identity are some big themes talked about, but not in a preachy way. I think we all struggle with identity, and many of us change how we act in front of different groups of people. Even if you’re not gay, I think you’ll find you can relate to the main character’s feelings.
The main character is Andrea, raised in Nebraska by an extremely religious mother, forced to hide the fact that she is a lesbian. Nebraska was a great choice for her birth place because it gave the opportunity to share Brandon Teena’s story, a trans murdered in Nebraska. Having the reader reminded of that heart-breaking story brings a heavier, darker, authentic feeling to Andrea’s stress of living in Nebraska and helps to explain why Portland was such a haven for her.
I admire how independent Andrea is. As a young person, on her own, with no family financial support, she is working three jobs, successfully paying her rent and doing okay. She has created a new family in Portland, a family that accepts her for who she is. During a night out with her friends she sees two of her ex-girlfriends flirting with each other. Devastated, she meets Ryan at the bar, and after a drunken kiss she finds herself in a secret relationship with him. Forced to hide her true self from her friends, like she did while living in Nebraska. Just when her life couldn’t feel more complicated, she gets pregnant.
“Smart and delightful . . . A chief pleasure of the novel is its shagginess, reflected in Andrea’s ‘mostly hopeful,’ unambitious, but inquisitive life. Johnson taps into a nostalgia for a reader’s youth and a simpler time, and the story keeps its vitality and humor throughout.” -Publishers Weekly
“Stray City has it all; as funny as it is moving, as joyful, as radically communal, as it is lonesome, the story covers the varied complications of place, home, sex, city—but mostly it’s about the necessary and unexpected revolutions of the self, and about how queerly we make our way through this world. Honestly, one of the most absorbing, finely-tuned books I’ve had the pleasure of falling down into. Chelsey Johnson is a wonder.” -Justin Torres, bestselling author of We the Animals
The plot is a little predictable and I really didn’t like Ryan leaving, it felt completely out of character to me. I would have loved to know more about his family and upbringing, perhaps that would have made his choices a bit more believable. That’s about the only fault I can find. Absolutely loved this book! I devoured Stray City in two days and cannot wait to read more of Chelsey Johnson’s writing.
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.
Gender, sexism, sexuality, family, acceptance, and identity are some big themes talked about, but not in a preachy way. I think we all struggle with identity, and many of us change how we act in front of different groups of people. Even if you’re not gay, I think you’ll find you can relate to the main character’s feelings.
The main character is Andrea, raised in Nebraska by an extremely religious mother, forced to hide the fact that she is a lesbian. Nebraska was a great choice for her birth place because it gave the opportunity to share Brandon Teena’s story, a trans murdered in Nebraska. Having the reader reminded of that heart-breaking story brings a heavier, darker, authentic feeling to Andrea’s stress of living in Nebraska and helps to explain why Portland was such a haven for her.
I admire how independent Andrea is. As a young person, on her own, with no family financial support, she is working three jobs, successfully paying her rent and doing okay. She has created a new family in Portland, a family that accepts her for who she is. During a night out with her friends she sees two of her ex-girlfriends flirting with each other. Devastated, she meets Ryan at the bar, and after a drunken kiss she finds herself in a secret relationship with him. Forced to hide her true self from her friends, like she did while living in Nebraska. Just when her life couldn’t feel more complicated, she gets pregnant.
“Smart and delightful . . . A chief pleasure of the novel is its shagginess, reflected in Andrea’s ‘mostly hopeful,’ unambitious, but inquisitive life. Johnson taps into a nostalgia for a reader’s youth and a simpler time, and the story keeps its vitality and humor throughout.” -Publishers Weekly
“Stray City has it all; as funny as it is moving, as joyful, as radically communal, as it is lonesome, the story covers the varied complications of place, home, sex, city—but mostly it’s about the necessary and unexpected revolutions of the self, and about how queerly we make our way through this world. Honestly, one of the most absorbing, finely-tuned books I’ve had the pleasure of falling down into. Chelsey Johnson is a wonder.” -Justin Torres, bestselling author of We the Animals
The plot is a little predictable and I really didn’t like Ryan leaving, it felt completely out of character to me. I would have loved to know more about his family and upbringing, perhaps that would have made his choices a bit more believable. That’s about the only fault I can find. Absolutely loved this book! I devoured Stray City in two days and cannot wait to read more of Chelsey Johnson’s writing.
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.
mckinlay's review against another edition
3.0
Like, i enjoyed this book for the most part, but i don’t really get the point, and i hated how it ended.
lesbrary's review against another edition
4.0
Whew! This was really good, but also challenging for me, personally. Andrea and Ryan's relationship was painful to experience. It is interesting to read about something that I have definitely seen in real life, but never seen in a book: a lesbian who has sex with a man, but still isn't attracted to men. Andrea is looking for something else from the experience: an ease, an uncomplicated connection. An assurance of being wanted, both sexually and personally. Of course, this ends up getting very, very complicated, and that's what made it uncomfortable, but the ending is a breath of fresh air, and the beginning is great 90s lesbian nostalgia.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
rosieeekins's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this story but it was hard to get into. The first half was sort of slow but then it got into the good parts towards the middle and slowed again in the later third. Overall, interesting story about identity and the politics of queer life in 1990’s Portland and what happens when you stray from the norm.
ceroon56's review against another edition
4.0
Characters were beautifully drawn. I cared about them.
mesy_mark's review against another edition
3.0
This is an okay book. Okay in the way it does feature a lesbian protagonist but what I wasn't expecting was half the book to be completely about the heterosexual relationship Andy had with Ryan. I thought maybe by the 1/4th mark that yes this relationship is all and good but it could end here and [pick up into raising the adorable child that came from that relationship.
I did like how the reality of life found that yes there is judgement from all groups and that you can be excluded from things s they change over time, like being kicked out of the Lesbian Mafia. I don't mean this as a jab at the lesbian community, I just mean this as a way that even though it is a good community not all aspects of the community is great. I also didn't like the constant hetero privilege whining, some of it was good for the book I just felt that some of it was a little bit too much.
The characters were memorable for the most part. Some part of the mafia was a little bit hard to separate when push came to shove and I thought that the ending character Beatriz could have used some more pages to get to know her better cause I loved that butch babe!. Overall I was engaged in this book. But I felt that the book rushed the ending of getting to know Lucia and thus meeting her bio father.
I did like how the reality of life found that yes there is judgement from all groups and that you can be excluded from things s they change over time, like being kicked out of the Lesbian Mafia. I don't mean this as a jab at the lesbian community, I just mean this as a way that even though it is a good community not all aspects of the community is great. I also didn't like the constant hetero privilege whining, some of it was good for the book I just felt that some of it was a little bit too much.
The characters were memorable for the most part. Some part of the mafia was a little bit hard to separate when push came to shove and I thought that the ending character Beatriz could have used some more pages to get to know her better cause I loved that butch babe!. Overall I was engaged in this book. But I felt that the book rushed the ending of getting to know Lucia and thus meeting her bio father.
kymme's review against another edition
5.0
Gorgeous writing with a lot of feels. Stray City is a love letter to Portland, to the 90s, to zines and music and coming out, to learning how to really be who you are. Six word summary: animal and human strays find families.
kirinmccrory's review against another edition
2.0
I was just so eh on this book. I can fully admit that part of this is my total bias towards stories about motherhood--I'm just not super interested in them--but also I found the writing to be middle of the road, the plot to be fairly predictable, and the payoff to be minimal. The book also felt extremely long to me without really retaining my interest. The prose got a little fanfic-y at times, in my opinion--learning the color of characters' eyes for no reason, or getting detailed paragraphs about clothing and haircuts. I don't know. I'm probably not the right audience for this book.
manaledi's review against another edition
4.0
I solidly enjoyed this one. it's ya from an adult point of view and well written.
BUT I kept thinking about this book/review because the bi-erasure really bothers me. Like maybe the idea is that the lesbian community is not accepting of bi-identities--which may or may not be true--but that premise could've been challenged instead of becoming a central part of the book's plot. Yes, I really appreciated how few characters were straight etc in the presentation of lesbian povs, but it's a missed opportunity for presenting the diversity present in LGBTQ and the spectrum of identities.
BUT I kept thinking about this book/review because the bi-erasure really bothers me. Like maybe the idea is that the lesbian community is not accepting of bi-identities--which may or may not be true--but that premise could've been challenged instead of becoming a central part of the book's plot. Yes, I really appreciated how few characters were straight etc in the presentation of lesbian povs, but it's a missed opportunity for presenting the diversity present in LGBTQ and the spectrum of identities.