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marynolanpleckham's review
4.0
A complicated, nuanced, and loving story of a young West Texas woman who comes out as lesbian in a small super religious town. Heartbreaking at times, thoughtful, and touching. Definitely worth reading, but know it's a lot at times.
jtys's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
syrahdunham's review
4.0
This story embodies the bittersweet nature of truly embracing yourself when it defies the expectations of those you love. It is clear that Madeline Kay Sneed poured her soul into this novel and I can not wait to read what she shares with us next.
noelwebbmason's review against another edition
5.0
It was an honor to read this book. Madeline Sneed is a newly published author that I know we will be reading plenty more from. I am a white woman who *pretends to be shocked* does not know the feeling of being discriminated against for being who I am. It is so hard to imagine showing up somewhere and being hated just for expressing yourself. This book was a window in to what that must feel like. There were moments I wanted to throw my kindle because I was so frustrated with the way people responded to Emmy. And then there were moments I was crying and my heart was so happy for the warmth some people offered Emmy. Madeline wrote the book with love at the core and you can tell. On a side note she’s the only author who has ever gotten me in to a football game.
00leah00's review against another edition
5.0
This book was something. It was intense and honestly it felt like Sneed was writing my experience (to a degree.)
Emmy is from West Texas and comes out to her parents right before she starts her senior year of college. They do not take it well. This is told from the point of view of Emmy and her dad Steve.
I used to refuse to read books that deal with homosexuality and religion because of how I grew up. My church wasn't quite as harsh but there were very similar vibes and this reminded me so much of my experiences that it ended up being cathartic lol.
I do recommend this, even with it not being a romance!
Emmy is from West Texas and comes out to her parents right before she starts her senior year of college. They do not take it well. This is told from the point of view of Emmy and her dad Steve.
I used to refuse to read books that deal with homosexuality and religion because of how I grew up. My church wasn't quite as harsh but there were very similar vibes and this reminded me so much of my experiences that it ended up being cathartic lol.
I do recommend this, even with it not being a romance!
ariqua's review against another edition
5.0
This book. Honestly everyone should read this book, but especially if you are queer and from the Christian church. Or if you are queer and have friends in the church. Or if you are in the church and have queer friends or even just know someone queer. My heart was broken so many times over.
CW: homophobia, mention of conversion therapy, toxic relationships, emotional abuse, patriarchy, bible hymns and passages and stories
Rep: lesbian MC, two lesbian SC, black SC
The premise of the novel is a lesbian coming out story in a small, conservative Christian town in Texas and the process of finding herself and dealing with the aftermath of her coming out. And also a lot of football and bible story/verse references. A little knowledge of both will make this easier to understand and relate to, but I don't think it's nessessary to understanding the novel as a whole.
But honestly it's so much more than that. It's beautifully written and had so many parallels to my own life as a queer in a small Christian town in Canada. There are so many quotes that were like a sucker punch to the gut or a healing breath of air.
Moving into more spoiler territory for the plot, our MC Emmy tells her divorced parents that she is a lesbian and has no more intentions of hiding it. The book has many flashback to her lesbian childhood moments and how she tries to repress it because non affirming churches are dumb. She had to deal with so much internal and external homophobia throughout her life from herself, the church, and especially from her father, which is the main relationship conflict of the novel. They grow from being so close to him kicking her out when she comes out to him. He is willing to cut her out of his life in an attempt to save her soul from eternal damnation due to her sin, which damages both of them more than sin ever could in my opinion.
The patriarchy and heteronormativity/amatonormativity in the church is also addressed. Which, as an aro/ace individual, are some of my strongest irritations in life. Oh, and the church being full of a bunch of hypocrites. Lots of that too.
After she is kicked out by her loving but also toxic father and returns to college, she is introduced to Cameron; her soon to be extremely toxic girlfriend.
There are red flags right from the beginning, but our poor girl is heartbroken and has been offered love by someone who accepts the parts of her that were rejected by her family. I can't fault her at all for that decision.
On to some quotes that really spoke to me. "You know how it is. Men in power in places like West Texas, ruled by Southern Baptists. Personal life has to be spotless. Cut out the blemishes if they can't get washed clean." That is basically the entire personality of her father and the preacher, and so many people I know in the church. I do really know how it is.
"I hope you never know it. That feeling. Not being good enough for what you love." And again later, " And you know what it's like. To love a place that hates you." If that didn't punch me right in the feels. I know it so well and I wish I didn't. That feeling of longing to be accepted for who you are when you accept everyone for who they are, including their flaws. Even the physical location of a place. Steinbeck is it's own character on the novel. Someone who keeps drawing you back, even though you know no one wants you there.
"What Cameron didn't understand, though, was that it was a form of grief, Emmy loosing him (her father) like this." Romantic heartbreak is not the only heartbreak and it isn't something that is talked about enough. It hurts just as much, if not more, when it comes from someone who has been in your life a lot longer than a romantic partner.
"Are you broken?... A boy likes you" "My mama told me you gotta go out there and get your man before he gets got by some other girl." Like the audacity of the amato/heteronormativity. For kids to be thinking this at such a young age is frightening. And if it doesn't frighten you, you might want to do some soul searching. The damage this causes kids, not just queer ones, is atrocious.
And the question that all of us in the church ask at one point, "God had... What had God done, besides nothing?" Emmy has some issues in the church, obviously, but she still tries to find peace and belonging in the church. Even after she is kicked out of the Christmas Eve services so as not to give kids the 'wrong idea' she still goes back to sit in the silence and peace the empty building brings her.
"Love's an open home, baby. It's always been that way". This one is from our black side character. He is a childhood friend of Emmy's, an ally, and not a love interest and I really appreciate that. Yes she's a lesbian, but still. Someone, somewhere would try and put them together because 'everyone' loves friends to lovers. I love the solid, platonic friendship that sticks with her through her ups and downs of the book. They are 'just' friends and it's wonderful.
That being said, we are introduced to Emmy's first love and childhood friend during the flashbacks. It reminds me that us queers seem to find each other even when you don't think there is anyone else like you and I think that's beautiful.
The character of Sara is also quite moving. She is who Emmy could be if she rejects the queer part of her in order to fit in to the places she loves, but hate her. She went through conversation therapy and goes into some details about that part of her life in the novel.
In any case, I will be recommending this book to everyone I talk to for the rest of my life. Go support your local library and/or bookstore (if you can) and make sure you get a box of tissues too.
CW: homophobia, mention of conversion therapy, toxic relationships, emotional abuse, patriarchy, bible hymns and passages and stories
Rep: lesbian MC, two lesbian SC, black SC
The premise of the novel is a lesbian coming out story in a small, conservative Christian town in Texas and the process of finding herself and dealing with the aftermath of her coming out. And also a lot of football and bible story/verse references. A little knowledge of both will make this easier to understand and relate to, but I don't think it's nessessary to understanding the novel as a whole.
But honestly it's so much more than that. It's beautifully written and had so many parallels to my own life as a queer in a small Christian town in Canada. There are so many quotes that were like a sucker punch to the gut or a healing breath of air.
Moving into more spoiler territory for the plot, our MC Emmy tells her divorced parents that she is a lesbian and has no more intentions of hiding it. The book has many flashback to her lesbian childhood moments and how she tries to repress it because non affirming churches are dumb. She had to deal with so much internal and external homophobia throughout her life from herself, the church, and especially from her father, which is the main relationship conflict of the novel. They grow from being so close to him kicking her out when she comes out to him. He is willing to cut her out of his life in an attempt to save her soul from eternal damnation due to her sin, which damages both of them more than sin ever could in my opinion.
The patriarchy and heteronormativity/amatonormativity in the church is also addressed. Which, as an aro/ace individual, are some of my strongest irritations in life. Oh, and the church being full of a bunch of hypocrites. Lots of that too.
After she is kicked out by her loving but also toxic father and returns to college, she is introduced to Cameron; her soon to be extremely toxic girlfriend.
There are red flags right from the beginning, but our poor girl is heartbroken and has been offered love by someone who accepts the parts of her that were rejected by her family. I can't fault her at all for that decision.
On to some quotes that really spoke to me. "You know how it is. Men in power in places like West Texas, ruled by Southern Baptists. Personal life has to be spotless. Cut out the blemishes if they can't get washed clean." That is basically the entire personality of her father and the preacher, and so many people I know in the church. I do really know how it is.
"I hope you never know it. That feeling. Not being good enough for what you love." And again later, " And you know what it's like. To love a place that hates you." If that didn't punch me right in the feels. I know it so well and I wish I didn't. That feeling of longing to be accepted for who you are when you accept everyone for who they are, including their flaws. Even the physical location of a place. Steinbeck is it's own character on the novel. Someone who keeps drawing you back, even though you know no one wants you there.
"What Cameron didn't understand, though, was that it was a form of grief, Emmy loosing him (her father) like this." Romantic heartbreak is not the only heartbreak and it isn't something that is talked about enough. It hurts just as much, if not more, when it comes from someone who has been in your life a lot longer than a romantic partner.
"Are you broken?... A boy likes you" "My mama told me you gotta go out there and get your man before he gets got by some other girl." Like the audacity of the amato/heteronormativity. For kids to be thinking this at such a young age is frightening. And if it doesn't frighten you, you might want to do some soul searching. The damage this causes kids, not just queer ones, is atrocious.
And the question that all of us in the church ask at one point, "God had... What had God done, besides nothing?" Emmy has some issues in the church, obviously, but she still tries to find peace and belonging in the church. Even after she is kicked out of the Christmas Eve services so as not to give kids the 'wrong idea' she still goes back to sit in the silence and peace the empty building brings her.
"Love's an open home, baby. It's always been that way". This one is from our black side character. He is a childhood friend of Emmy's, an ally, and not a love interest and I really appreciate that. Yes she's a lesbian, but still. Someone, somewhere would try and put them together because 'everyone' loves friends to lovers. I love the solid, platonic friendship that sticks with her through her ups and downs of the book. They are 'just' friends and it's wonderful.
That being said, we are introduced to Emmy's first love and childhood friend during the flashbacks. It reminds me that us queers seem to find each other even when you don't think there is anyone else like you and I think that's beautiful.
The character of Sara is also quite moving. She is who Emmy could be if she rejects the queer part of her in order to fit in to the places she loves, but hate her. She went through conversation therapy and goes into some details about that part of her life in the novel.
In any case, I will be recommending this book to everyone I talk to for the rest of my life. Go support your local library and/or bookstore (if you can) and make sure you get a box of tissues too.
pricklyperin's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
surabhib's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
ctrl_shift_dlt's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
isabeau's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
The Golden Season is an exploration of what it means to be "Other" in a community that has a strict definition of who you ought to be in order to be accepted. The question posed on the book's back cover -- "How do you love a place that doesn't love you back?" -- is one that I think most people living in marginalized identities have contemplated, myself included, and it was my interest in seeing how Sneed would go about answering it that made me pick up this book.
Those who may dread the promise of football talk should not be deterred: personally, I found the presence of football to be so naturally interwoven into the fabric of the story that, even if you don't care about football, you care about why the narrator cares about football. The sport is used as a device to articulate, reflect, and frame the characters' feelings. My own lack of football knowledge did not prevent me from appreciating the drama and intensity of the game scenes--because they mattered so much to the narrator, you found that it mattered to you, too, and that's a mark of good storytelling on Sneed's part. But then again, I am a big Friday Night Lights fan, so this assessment may be biased.
To the point of Sneed's storytelling--my god, her love of Texas is practically tangible in the way she writes it! Texas is its own living character in this book, and it was beautiful to read, to really feel Sneed's love for the place through Emmy and Steve's eyes. Having a character from the East coast there to set Texas in contrast was a clever, and important, way of highlighting that love of place; if the reader is someone who does not have their own love of place, that character serves as a good stand-in for them to try and really understand Emmy's/Sneed's perspective. For some people (myself included), you can't just give up on a place, even if it doesn't treat you how you wish it did. That place isn't just home, it's a friend--it's family.
Emmy's journey toward finding an answer for how to love a place that doesn't love you was at times gentle, at times demanding, and altogether relatable. Those interested in the intersections between LGBT identities and religion, especially set south of the Mason-Dixon line, should give The Golden Season a read! I think that any reader will come away from this book having broadened their own worldview in some way because of how it presents identities that are so easily written off as backward. This book presents nuance, without forgiving the ways in which those identities (e.g. Southern Baptists) can be harmful. How do you love a place that doesn't love you back? How do you love a God who you have been taught won't love you for being you? Love is a dynamic thing, says Sneed, always learning, always growing, and it encourages us to grow with it.