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ashar_allaire's review against another edition
2.0
Non spoiler review- I get it, and actually really liked most of it for its rawness and honesty, but one specific part was handled so poorly that, for me, it ruined the whole book.
I could not get past how they handled the final relationship, it really made me feel sick.
It wasn't because of descriptiveness, it was about how nonchalantly it was played and how they gave it no weight or resolution. Like I walked away feeling so disappointed, the insight was almost there but instead it just put the problem in front of us like "well that's just the way it is." I don't feel sympathy or understanding or insight at that point, it just loses me.
I've also seen a lot of queer books treat this topic too nonchalantly, like a fact of life, and a part of gay culture which I'm just so sick of. Gay people are more likely to be traumatized, childhood trauma leads to abusive behavior, but it's just not portrayed as abuse so much as an inevitability, which to me is just absurd and extremely insensitive. This book gave it slightly more nuance than I've seen in the past but still not nearly enough.
It doesn't need to be cut because it's a very real thing that happens, and something that should be talked about, but a simple acknowledgement of how horrible it was would have been SOMETHING. He's 33 and doesn't seem to even take a second to consider it might be wrong and continues like it's no big deal even after being confronted about it, like what? He didn't seem to lose all sense of right and wrong from trauma, like he knows enough to condemn the people who did it to him. I don't know it just didn't work for me.
It wasn't because of descriptiveness, it was about how nonchalantly it was played and how they gave it no weight or resolution. Like I walked away feeling so disappointed, the insight was almost there but instead it just put the problem in front of us like "well that's just the way it is." I don't feel sympathy or understanding or insight at that point, it just loses me.
I've also seen a lot of queer books treat this topic too nonchalantly, like a fact of life, and a part of gay culture which I'm just so sick of. Gay people are more likely to be traumatized, childhood trauma leads to abusive behavior, but it's just not portrayed as abuse so much as an inevitability, which to me is just absurd and extremely insensitive. This book gave it slightly more nuance than I've seen in the past but still not nearly enough.
It doesn't need to be cut because it's a very real thing that happens, and something that should be talked about, but a simple acknowledgement of how horrible it was would have been SOMETHING. He's 33 and doesn't seem to even take a second to consider it might be wrong and continues like it's no big deal even after being confronted about it, like what? He didn't seem to lose all sense of right and wrong from trauma, like he knows enough to condemn the people who did it to him. I don't know it just didn't work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Death, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Classism and Drug abuse
staticdisplay's review against another edition
4.0
the writing is certainly evocative; DeShawn reads very much as a real and fully realized person, and we're just catching a few moments of a life that has been lived across decades and will continue into the future without this audience. I wanted a sense of closure or some sense of future happiness for DeShawn, which this book doesn't even try to give. we see much of what went into shaping who he is in the moment we meet him (struggling with depression, functioning despite heavy substance use, uncertain whether he would even want commitment but also unsatisfied with the relationships that he does have, abused and/or abandoned by almost all the men in his life, reflecting as an adult on how racism affected his childhood in ways that he couldn't comprehend or name as a child). I think the ending was hopeful. there are a lot of things we endure that we shouldn't have to that we can never go back and undo or fix, and there's a moment where DeShawn's mother suggests understanding and forgiveness for a wrong (not in those words exactly), which may not be the answer for everyone or the answer that someone needs, but it is something. I think the separate context I brought to my reading of this certainly affected me reading it more as terribly sad than picking up on the humor.
benpurvis42's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
4.0
libraryfiend21's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.75
misterdna's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
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
4.75
dpepin's review
3.0
This was quite a tender reminiscence of misspent youth yet I felt that it lacked substance really. I enjoy a retrospective novel but they can stray into repetitiveness as I fear this one did, the characters failed to resonate and there was nothing particularly gripping or riotous as many reviews had led me to believe. However, I didn’t think it was necessarily bad rather just poorly advertised. I would describe it, instead, as an insight to a niche area of familial relationships and queer upbringings in stereotypically homophobic settings. A meander of a novel rather than the rapid that I thought it would be, disappointing but it still had its moments.
girlmusic's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
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
mrsthrift's review
5.0
I greatly enjoyed and appreciated this brilliant book about growing up queer and black in 1980s Alabama. It is well-paced, hilarious, heart-breaking, sexy, brilliant, exciting, and totally punk rock. It feels nostalgic and illuminating at the same time. Purnell whiplashes the reader between heartbreaking moments and wild, amazing insights and adventures.
So many books like this would be beloved because the story is so good but this is actually well-written too. I've read a lot of small press, queer teenagers journeying to adulthood, rationalized identities, and self-acceptance kind of books. And this. I re-read a lot of pages just because they were so good. I laughed out loud. I cried. I hugged it when I finished it.
I immediately added it to my "favorites" shelf, making it only the third book of the 1,001 books I've read since I left college to have that distinction. I am so happy that this was my 100th book of 2019. It's just fucking perfect. Brontez Purnell is a genius. Read this goddamn book.
So many books like this would be beloved because the story is so good but this is actually well-written too. I've read a lot of small press, queer teenagers journeying to adulthood, rationalized identities, and self-acceptance kind of books. And this. I re-read a lot of pages just because they were so good. I laughed out loud. I cried. I hugged it when I finished it.
I immediately added it to my "favorites" shelf, making it only the third book of the 1,001 books I've read since I left college to have that distinction. I am so happy that this was my 100th book of 2019. It's just fucking perfect. Brontez Purnell is a genius. Read this goddamn book.
intweed's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0