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

I was expecting some critical race theory or something about the experience of gays/trans in the US. It’s an “about me” from a very privileged man with private education, frequent vacations as a child, both parents, grandma, siblings, the whole family all supportive/loving throughout his life. I’m glad the author had a gay brother and trans cousin to help relate to him. The author says finding out when he was a little kid that his parents call him Matt middle name instead of his first name George was trauma? I guess I just don’t see why he wrote a memoir about normal mostly uneventful suburban childhood - college.

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grboph's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

This was quite the book. George M. Johnson is an incredible person, and their story is a very important one for everyone to hear. The incredible thing about this story is that while most memoirs are about someone with a very unique or unusual story, Johnson's is very commonplace, it just has hardly ever been told before. On top of its importance to society, the book is also full of stories about Johnson's life that are heartwarming, sad, and everything in between. I'm so glad I got to experience this book, and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone.

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matheo's review

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emotional informative reflective

4.25

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

I think this memoir will be really helpful for a lot of people, and I'm very glad it was written. I'm also glad I read it. However, the writing was not very good; I feel bad saying this, and this is the first book in a very long time where I would actually say something like that. I think the structure of the book was sort of a mess, and so much of it was really on the nose. "Here's a story that I'm going to tell in a roundabout way as if it's not planned out ahead of time, and now here's how I connect this to broader society/gender/identity/etc." Again, I think this book will be great for some young people figuring out their identity on multiple levels. And it's not like it was written terribly or anything--but I haven't read a book written this poorly in a long time.

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mayenk's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

Great book, I didn't give it 5 because I didn't love it but it's a solid 4.25. I really liked how he talked about the agency of yourself, with your name, with your body, and with your soul. I also loved how he talked about death and family. He really highlighted the importance of family, community, and acceptance; how integral this is to a child's life.

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spiritedfaraway's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

All Boys Aren’t Blue is a memoir-manifesto by journalist and LGBTPQIA+ activist George M. Johnson. They talk about their life from childhood to young adult and explore topics such as family, agency, and Black joy.

This is a powerful and, at times, heart wrenching book. It is thought provoking and deeply moving and is definitely something I’m going to continue thinking about for a long time.

This book will help so many people. It was crafted with such thought and care. There are many topics explored in this book that have the potential to be triggering, but Johnson talks about them all in their author’s note at the beginning of the book, so that you are prepared before starting.

They also bring up the fact that some of these things are seen as “too heavy” for teenagers, but that all of these heavy topics happened to them as a child, teenager and young adult. Teenagers, unfortunately, have to navigate some pretty awful things sometimes and Johnson wants those readers to have the space to be seen and heard in their pages.

Definitely go pick up a copy today, you won’t regret it!

“We all deserve more than just the ability to exist.”

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bookishgems's review

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challenging informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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