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joellehernandez's review against another edition
3.0
A raw and realistic view into the world of small-town Texas, church, and coming out. I felt Emmy’s pain leap off the pages and her transformation unfold as she navigated this new chapter in her life. Felt like I needed to read this on a porch in the south with a big glass of sweat tea. Heartbreaking and loving at the same time.
herreadinglife's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
madelinewieters's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.25
eve_kaarina's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-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? It's complicated
4.0
greengaybles's review against another edition
4.0
This is very good, but the chapters from the father's point of view are excruciating to read. I understand what the goal was, I just hated the reading experience. Even so, it's worth your time. The writing is nice and Texas is vividly rendered and the main lesbian relationship is one I don't see depicted often, and I think it's important. Way too much football though.
caranichols's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
angieinbooks's review against another edition
4.0
The intersection between religion (especially Evangelical Christianity) and queer identity is a theme I keep coming back to over and over again. Eh, we all deal with the trauma of our upbringings in different ways. ;) So when I saw this book under my library's new acquisitions, I grabbed it without reading any reviews or seeing what anyone else had to say about it.
So a word of warning first: The Golden Season is not a romance. And I don't think it's marketed as such, but if, for whatever reason, you pick this up with that expectation, you will be disappointed. The Golden Season is a story about the relationship between Emmy, who is starting her final year of university having just come out to her parents, and her father Steve, who has four loves in his life: Emmy, football, the small West Texas town his family has lived for generations, and his (ex-)wife.
Like Steve, Emmy loves Texas and she loves the town she grew up in and she loves football. She's a daddy's girl through and through. And every year he throws her a party just before she leaves to start another year college. The town adores her, too. Emmy also knows she's a lesbian. She's known for years but she's kept silent because it's scary--she attends a baptist church in a small Texas town, after all. And because of her dad's job--the assistant coach of the high school football team--the eyes of the town are on Emmy. And she's never disappointed them.
Despite her mother's protestations that Steve will never understand or support Emmy as a lesbian, Emmy can't keep this from her father anymore. And Emmy knows that if there's one thing Steve loves more than anything, it's her. Needless to say, Steve doesn't take the announcement well, and Emmy embarks on her final year of university when both of her parents have shut her out.
The novel is told from the perspectives of Emmy and Steve, each dealing with the fallout of Emmy's announcement. Emmy falls in love with a woman at school who's smart and outspoken and unashamed in her queerness and worldly in ways Emmy can't really comprehend; she also hates Texas. Steve is promoted to head coach of the football team and he has plans to shock the state of Texas by taking that team all the way to the state championships. He has everything in his professional life he's always wanted, but for what? He comes home to an empty house every night.
When the rumors of Emmy's sexual orientation spread in the community, the pressure from Steve's church and the football boosters increases, as he is looked to as a moral leader in the community. Can Steve's judgement be trusted if he has raised a queer child? If he welcomes her into his home, it will be seen as an endorsement of that lifestyle, and is that who parents want leading their children? And they're felt by Emmy, who isn't even living in Steinbeck, in really horrendous ways. I don't really know what else to say about this book without giving away the entire plots, so I'll just stop here.
If you grew up in an environment like Steinbeck, Texas, or identify and queer but grew up in a religious community that doesn't accept that, this will be triggering at times. There's also some verbal and mental abuse you will have to deal with, so please be mindful heading in. But, for me, I found this book to be thoughtful about those experiences, and I'm grateful for it.
It's not a full five stars for me. For as much time as this book spends in Emmy's head, I wanted to know Emmy more than I feel I got to here. And I often had to reread certain sentences because they didn't make sense at first. These were mostly due to grammatical errors that really changed the meaning of the sentence, e.g. a "was" where it should have been "wasn't." And, while I live for the religiousness of it, things seemed super black and white for most of the novel. I know there are elements to this type of experience that are real, but even with my parents, who are extremely religious, there is some acceptance, even if it comes at the expense of avoidance. And I would like authors to tell that nuanced story more. Not everyone has parents who march with them in Pride parades, but not everyone has parents who will ostracize them either.
So a word of warning first: The Golden Season is not a romance. And I don't think it's marketed as such, but if, for whatever reason, you pick this up with that expectation, you will be disappointed. The Golden Season is a story about the relationship between Emmy, who is starting her final year of university having just come out to her parents, and her father Steve, who has four loves in his life: Emmy, football, the small West Texas town his family has lived for generations, and his (ex-)wife.
Like Steve, Emmy loves Texas and she loves the town she grew up in and she loves football. She's a daddy's girl through and through. And every year he throws her a party just before she leaves to start another year college. The town adores her, too. Emmy also knows she's a lesbian. She's known for years but she's kept silent because it's scary--she attends a baptist church in a small Texas town, after all. And because of her dad's job--the assistant coach of the high school football team--the eyes of the town are on Emmy. And she's never disappointed them.
Despite her mother's protestations that Steve will never understand or support Emmy as a lesbian, Emmy can't keep this from her father anymore. And Emmy knows that if there's one thing Steve loves more than anything, it's her. Needless to say, Steve doesn't take the announcement well, and Emmy embarks on her final year of university when both of her parents have shut her out.
The novel is told from the perspectives of Emmy and Steve, each dealing with the fallout of Emmy's announcement. Emmy falls in love with a woman at school who's smart and outspoken and unashamed in her queerness and worldly in ways Emmy can't really comprehend; she also hates Texas. Steve is promoted to head coach of the football team and he has plans to shock the state of Texas by taking that team all the way to the state championships. He has everything in his professional life he's always wanted, but for what? He comes home to an empty house every night.
When the rumors of Emmy's sexual orientation spread in the community, the pressure from Steve's church and the football boosters increases, as he is looked to as a moral leader in the community. Can Steve's judgement be trusted if he has raised a queer child? If he welcomes her into his home, it will be seen as an endorsement of that lifestyle, and is that who parents want leading their children? And they're felt by Emmy, who isn't even living in Steinbeck, in really horrendous ways. I don't really know what else to say about this book without giving away the entire plots, so I'll just stop here.
If you grew up in an environment like Steinbeck, Texas, or identify and queer but grew up in a religious community that doesn't accept that, this will be triggering at times. There's also some verbal and mental abuse you will have to deal with, so please be mindful heading in. But, for me, I found this book to be thoughtful about those experiences, and I'm grateful for it.
It's not a full five stars for me. For as much time as this book spends in Emmy's head, I wanted to know Emmy more than I feel I got to here. And I often had to reread certain sentences because they didn't make sense at first. These were mostly due to grammatical errors that really changed the meaning of the sentence, e.g. a "was" where it should have been "wasn't." And, while I live for the religiousness of it, things seemed super black and white for most of the novel. I know there are elements to this type of experience that are real, but even with my parents, who are extremely religious, there is some acceptance, even if it comes at the expense of avoidance. And I would like authors to tell that nuanced story more. Not everyone has parents who march with them in Pride parades, but not everyone has parents who will ostracize them either.