Reviews with content warning for Deadnaming - All Boys Aren't Blue

Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

113 reviews

mari1532's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I listened to this audiobook through my library on Libby.

Brief Summary: A memoir that explores the experience of a Black, Queer person growing up. Johnson provides essays about their life that include experiences navigating racism, homophobia, sex, love, and joy.

Thoughts: This is a beautifully written book. Johnson has such a clear understanding of how growing up can be such a difficult process and how learning to love yourself is truly the first step to an enlightened understanding of the world.

I really loved every essay that included stories of Johnson's grandmother. The love and admiration that they have for each other was so touching to read. I also think that it is so important that Johnson highlighted how their grandmother and others in their family may not have had a perfect response to the queer members of the family, but that their love for each other always came first and that love allowed for growth and acceptance on all sides.

I also appreciate the way that Johson discusses their sexual experiences. I think that even in a young adult book it is important to discuss topics like these because making them taboo makes it difficult for people to feel comfortable discussing the topic and asking questions.

Even if you are not a young adult this is a great book to read. It is beautifully and thoughtfully written. I would highly recommend this book

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kjofalltrades's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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gabs_loc's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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sarahc_v's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad

3.75

I will start by saying that I don’t think I am the target audience for this book which did impact my experience reading it. I think it’s very important that this book exists and that it will be so incredibly beneficial to queer teens, black teens, and especially black queer teens. It was interesting to see George’s experience growing up in the 90s as a queer person which is very different from how younger people experience it. I liked overall the concepts and the meaning/significance of the book, but I wasn’t wild about the writing style. As other reviews pointed out, the sentences were very choppy and because I was listening to the audiobook that was especially noticeable. I’d say that the first 3/4 of the book weren’t anything extraordinary to me, but I really enjoyed the last 1/4 and hearing about the college experience and everything about Kenny. Having also

built a very close friend group in college who became my family (and whom my parents had met many times) and the one of those friends died

the section about

Kenny’s death

really deeply resonated with me and I found George’s reflection on it very insightful. So if only for that section, I am very glad to have read this book. I would also recommend this book to those trying to learn more about the black queer experience - obviously George’s journey isn’t universal but it is a good introduction for those who want to learn more (having already been pretty familiar through other books and media, this wasn’t as impactful to me).

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jouljet's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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ekmoore11's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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bookwormcat's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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blue_is_at_sea's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

I had a great experience reading this book. It’s one of the first memoirs I’ve ever read and I have to say I think it’s a great one to start with.
It deals with so much: race, gender sexuality, death, trauma, family and friendship.
I like that the prose is very accessible and the chapters are short. The subject matter can be fun and lighthearted but can also be heavy at times.
It’s a great read and I do recommend it.

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zluvsreading's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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kteliza28's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

Really enjoyed this memoir about growing up black and queer. The first 2/3 of this book were the best: the childhood upbringing, growing into oneself and trying to understand identity, family dynamics and dealing with hate in all its forms (especially the emphasis on micro aggressions). It was actually the most informative part for me, especially the un-learning of what we’ve been taught in our history classes. This story was different to me because not everything was a struggle. At first I was so surprised that the authors family was pretty much fully supportive from the get go (some members more than others but mostly supportive). You read books like this and think everything has to be a downhill battle the whole time and how the author preserved and came out of it heroic, but it was a really nice change of pace to hear the story of someone who didn’t have it all bad but still dealt with very negative things and also still hasn’t figured everything out yet. As someone not black and not gay, reading someone’s story of sexuality and their feelings around sex in general was actually something I could connect with. I do think this book kinda loses me a little around the time the author goes to college. There were some elements of the story that played into the theme of the book but at times felt like I was just hearing a day to day recall of a pretty mundane college life. But maybe that’s the point. Again, you don’t need to struggle 100% of the time or have a drama filled life 100% of the time to write about it. This is not to detract from what the author went through. There are MANY times throughout this memoir where I was shaking my head in sadness and disgust for what he went through. But there was hope and happiness here too.

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