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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Not all Bad Gays are equally Bad.
Pretty interesting profiles on (mostly male) queers throughout history and across the (mostly western) world. Fairly accessible, though the tone never quite found the balance between academic and peppered in gay jargon.
The concept of the book really drew me in, but the consistency of it's premise wasn't there for me.
Some of these gays are literal Nazis: Some are just being just men from ancient history judged against modern ideals. I don't think some of them ever really go into what makes them "bad".
It wasn't until I started this book I discovered it was based on a podcast. Despite my criticisms, I largely enjoyed my time with Bad Gays, and would definitely give a few episodes a listen after reading.
Pretty interesting profiles on (mostly male) queers throughout history and across the (mostly western) world. Fairly accessible, though the tone never quite found the balance between academic and peppered in gay jargon.
The concept of the book really drew me in, but the consistency of it's premise wasn't there for me.
Some of these gays are literal Nazis: Some are just being just men from ancient history judged against modern ideals. I don't think some of them ever really go into what makes them "bad".
It wasn't until I started this book I discovered it was based on a podcast. Despite my criticisms, I largely enjoyed my time with Bad Gays, and would definitely give a few episodes a listen after reading.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Brilliant speaks to queer and gay histories. Academically rich and fascinating stories with reflective and thought provoking connections made to the modern issues and challenges of gay identities.
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Good: I learnt a lot and found the ideas built through this story really interesting. It made me want to listen to the podcast
Not so good: The writing style was dense and hard to focus on. The structure was sometimes confusing.
Not so good: The writing style was dense and hard to focus on. The structure was sometimes confusing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Islamophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This is entirely unrelated to the book itself but I think they forgot to finish editing the audiobook?? There’s a couple of spots where the narrators repeats with an alternative reading. Wild
(It feels odd to imply that I wish there were more women and anyone trans (yes, yes, a modern understanding of identity, I know) in this book about morally complicated/repugnant gay people, but… I mean! I’m sure at least some of them exist! Maybe that’s what the podcast is for)
(It feels odd to imply that I wish there were more women and anyone trans (yes, yes, a modern understanding of identity, I know) in this book about morally complicated/repugnant gay people, but… I mean! I’m sure at least some of them exist! Maybe that’s what the podcast is for)
Some wild stories in this one, and it was enjoyable, though after having finished it a few weeks ago there's not much that has stuck with me compared to other queer history books I've read.
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
slow-paced
It's a weird position to be in where my favourite chapter of this book - about Margaret Mead - was simultaneously the one that made the least sense in the context of the book as a whole. All the other subjects are male (or at least predominantly male presenting as given to us in the text); I would honestly rather there was no women than just one woman randomly thrown in there??
The book conflates some really, really bad people (like, literal nazis) and some people who frankly I can't see what crime they committed (Jack Saul). I read Jack's chapter and the main thing on my mind is, 'ok, what makes him bad????'. Strange, maybe the implication is that being a sex worker made him bad(???) but that kind of swerfery is not welcome here, and doesn't seem consistent with the rest of the book either.
The pacing/ordering of information felt so off. Aside from a handful of chapters, this was really quite a slog to read through, because it desperately needed more editing to create a coherent narrative. I don't need the narrative to be linear, but at least make sense, especially when so many different people are being introduced all over the place. The later chapters were definitely better than the earlier ones in general, but there were still issues.
I did enjoy the overall thread about the relationship between clear liberation and fascism. But it's very strange to have this very interesting thread throughout a book that is painfully white, male, and seems to be rather cis too.
The book conflates some really, really bad people (like, literal nazis) and some people who frankly I can't see what crime they committed (Jack Saul). I read Jack's chapter and the main thing on my mind is, 'ok, what makes him bad????'. Strange, maybe the implication is that being a sex worker made him bad(???) but that kind of swerfery is not welcome here, and doesn't seem consistent with the rest of the book either.
The pacing/ordering of information felt so off. Aside from a handful of chapters, this was really quite a slog to read through, because it desperately needed more editing to create a coherent narrative. I don't need the narrative to be linear, but at least make sense, especially when so many different people are being introduced all over the place. The later chapters were definitely better than the earlier ones in general, but there were still issues.
I did enjoy the overall thread about the relationship between clear liberation and fascism. But it's very strange to have this very interesting thread throughout a book that is painfully white, male, and seems to be rather cis too.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced