Reviews

The Book of Queer Prophets: 24 Writers on Sexuality and Religion by Ruth Hunt

jayne's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

faehistory's review

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

althea's review against another edition

3.0

This collection of essays, despite at times offering some rather difficult to read experiences, felt very hopeful, and I know that it will have a great impact on many people - I particularly loved Ruth's essay at the end. However, I can't help but noticing that the majority of the essays are written by white, cis Christians and are written from a very Western-centric point of view, and I just wish there was more nuance. I also, unfortunately, found Juno Dawson's essay to be a bit pointless...it only lasted a couple of pages compared to the rest and was basically 'I'm not religious but others are and that's okay', and it felt, to me, like a bit of a strange inclusion.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an e-ARC copy in return for an honest review!

botanicals's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.0

emmadobson_2812's review against another edition

5.0

This book is wonderful! A superb collection of moving, insightful and inspiring essays on the relationship between faith and sexuality. Such a broad range of experiences, articulated in unique and beautiful ways.

kirstyjuliette's review against another edition

1.0

Worst quality audiobook I’ve ever heard. Made it difficult to listen to the essays, but also I found a lot of them quite dull and self indulgent. Hoping it would change my mind somewhat about religion’s intersectionality with lgbt+-ness but I still think it’s heinous.

heyheyhell's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

4.0

the_casual_reader's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

2.75

Probably a solid 3.0 
(However 2.75, since most essays blurred together into one because of the experience of sameness and lack of variety, audio-format might play a role)

multilingual_s's review

emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.5

A beautiful but difficult read. I really enjoyed the many different perspectives, even though trans voices were underrepresented (and there were no non binary, ace or intersex perspectives, as far as i can tell). It's mostly really sad that religious communities have been so unwelcoming and causing so much suffering, and it's fascinating to see that religion can still be a source of strength and joy for many of the contributors. But generally the book left me feeling as if there were some blind spots, an itch that was left unscratched, maybe because none of the stories resonated with me completely. 

miliemoon's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

One these essentials reads, particularly when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community, there must be books that people should read.

Short stories, true stories, have the extraordinary power of humanising a group of people alienated by society. We need to reach within ourselves and see how religions are feeding into this fear and hate of "the other".

There is no "other". We are all the same: loving, feeling, crying, growing, learning. 

Must read! Absolutely must read!

I am tired of hearing a ridiculous amount of stupid things about the queer community. Education must happen! This a perfect book for secondary schools, inviting teens and teachers to learn and embrace new knowledge to ensure this community feels safer, loved, seen, heard, respected like everyone should be.