Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Black Flamingo

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

182 reviews

ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective 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

It was such a pleasure reading through this book. I am queer, mixed, and black just as the main character, Michael, is. I was able to relate to him in many ways. The poetry in the story had a nice rhythm to it as you read. I personally recommend reading it aloud sometimes so that you can really appreciate it.

Michael has a lot of internal dialogue that feels genuinely teenaged in nature. He was still very likeable throughout the story and I found his internal monologue endearing. It really made me sympathetic towards him whenever Michael got into not so ideal situations or made mistakes. His parents are incredibly supportive of him. It was refreshing to see their attitudes help Michael embrace both sides of his multi-ethnic culture.

Daisy, Michael's long time childhood friend, serves as a foil for Michael. Michael attempts to embrace his blackness and queerness and grows more comfortable with his identity as the book progresses. In contrast, Daisy becomes more openly queerphobic and anti-black. She goes out of her way to avoid parts of her black identity. She is more white passing than Michael and she at times weaponizes this and uses her privilege in ways that are harmful. Additionally, as her character continues to develop, she says more outright racist or homophobic things. Daisy is not the only person that enters Michael's life that reflects forms of queerphobia or ignorance when it comes to race. Each of these encounters and interactions allow Michael to grow and become more secure in his identity.

Everything comes wonderfully full circle by the end of the book and was incredibly satisfying for me. I found the story satisfying, uplifting, and hopeful. I am looking forward to more works written by this author. I definitely do recommend this coming-of-age story for teenagers, but especially queer teenagers. However, even as a queer adult, it made me happy that there are queer stories out there like this.

Content Warnings

ielliie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sauvageloup's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

I didn't know this was a verse novel going into it, so that was a surprise, but i rly liked it all the same.

pros:
- poetic language, with some very good poems and thoughtful writing. it carried the story along quickly, moving through time and settings with no confusion and vividly.
- a very accessible story about lots of complicated ideas around identity, race, gender, christianity, coming of age, etc. it covers a lot of topics without feeling rushed or shallow.
- I was especially interested in the MC's exploration of his mixed race heritage and culture and feelings as a British guy and how being black influenced his queer experience. I didnt know much about that at all so that was very rewarding to read.
- the characters were all interesting and you rooted for them or disliked them depending on the character. some were complicated, like daisy and Rowan and had growth. I liked how it spanned a full 2 decades of life really well. we could see Michael's whole journey from barbie playing child to realised and accepted black gay drag queen.
- interesting also to see a British perspective as other books I've read have had a US one.

cons:
- I found the start quite childish in tone. I know it was focused on a child and told from his POV, but the simplistic language felt dull. but i got into it fast and enjoyed the uni sections much more.
- maybe there could have been more depth of background characters, or the book just felt much shorter because of the prose. but I did like it a lot. would have liked to see Michaels and Kieran relationship go further.

overall, a fun, different read from my usual. not prose like I expected but good!

Content Warnings