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servemethesky's review
3.0
This is a really tough one to rate! I thoroughly enjoyed this illustrated memoir and thought the author did an excellent job sharing her story in an honest, vulnerable way. It was absolutely heartbreaking and so sad for 90% of it. I'm glad she found the peace she was looking for and was finally able to embrace her queer identity.
When I picked this up, I thought from the cover that maybe she was at a Christian summer camp and would eventually leave Christianity as she embraced her queerness. I was shook that she remained a Christian by the end. That's my own biases coming into play, as I am no longer a practicing Christian despite being raised that way. I just couldn't believe that she would choose to remain in the faith despite all the harm Christianity has done to the queer community and beyond.
It's not for me to judge her choices of course, and I'm happy she and her wife & fam are happy! Plus, I think this would be an awesome resource for Christian kids struggling to navigate their own sexuality/queerness. It's doing exactly the job its meant to do :) I'm just not 100% the precise target audience and that's okay!
When I picked this up, I thought from the cover that maybe she was at a Christian summer camp and would eventually leave Christianity as she embraced her queerness. I was shook that she remained a Christian by the end. That's my own biases coming into play, as I am no longer a practicing Christian despite being raised that way. I just couldn't believe that she would choose to remain in the faith despite all the harm Christianity has done to the queer community and beyond.
It's not for me to judge her choices of course, and I'm happy she and her wife & fam are happy! Plus, I think this would be an awesome resource for Christian kids struggling to navigate their own sexuality/queerness. It's doing exactly the job its meant to do :) I'm just not 100% the precise target audience and that's okay!
thislibrarianisreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
eramhussain's review
4.0
This is Stacey's life story of discovering and accepting herself. The author did a really good job of capturing her battle with her identity and how it evolves throughout her life and its impossible not to feel for her. I loved watching her grow and learn to accept herself throughout this.
I'm glad towards the end of the book stace found the peace she was looking for and was finally able to embrace her queer identity.
I'm glad towards the end of the book stace found the peace she was looking for and was finally able to embrace her queer identity.
3smallsalsmum's review
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
A challenging read with some interesting insights.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
amyjoy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
4.0
I mostly don't identify as a Christian these days, and I have not been a part of a church in a looong time, but Chomiak's journey felt very familiar to me. The church she grew up in sounded really similar to churches I'd attended most of my life, and I struggled similarly with various issues the church condemned.
I really appreciated how straight-foward she was and how open about her journey, and I really wanted to give young Stace a hug.
(I also really felt for Tams, the most long suffering partner ever, who dealt with Stace going back and forth on their relationship for seven years.)
I really appreciated how straight-foward she was and how open about her journey, and I really wanted to give young Stace a hug.
(I also really felt for Tams, the most long suffering partner ever, who dealt with Stace going back and forth on their relationship for seven years.)
zoeek's review
5.0
This memoir is so important!
You could truly feel what the author went through and it was impossible not to empathize with her. Throughout the entire book I felt the urge to give her a hug and tell her it was gonna be okay. I also shed a few tears.
I think this is a necessary read for all christian kids of all sexual orientations! Stacey's journey and the little snippets of her conversation with God are inspiring for all and I do believe that kids will grow and learn from it.
The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous and truly added to the story. They made the characters more real and it helped the book flow seamlessly.
I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review, all views and opinions are my own.
Thank you Beaming Books for this opportunity.
You could truly feel what the author went through and it was impossible not to empathize with her. Throughout the entire book I felt the urge to give her a hug and tell her it was gonna be okay. I also shed a few tears.
I think this is a necessary read for all christian kids of all sexual orientations! Stacey's journey and the little snippets of her conversation with God are inspiring for all and I do believe that kids will grow and learn from it.
The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous and truly added to the story. They made the characters more real and it helped the book flow seamlessly.
I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review, all views and opinions are my own.
Thank you Beaming Books for this opportunity.
chess__bored's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Sixteen year old me needed this
amalgamation_of_things's review
5.0
This is an excellent read for anyone questioning the validity of LGBTQ+ sexuality. God created us for boundless, unconditional love. Families should love their children regardless of whom they love. Many LGBTQ+ couples demonstrate more agape love than many straight couples.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Lovely artwork. It's worth noting that this is (as the cover says!) an illustrated memoir, not a graphic memoir, though I'd be interested to see what Chomiak could do with a full graphic novel/memoir—I suspect it would play to her strengths.
Still Stace chronicles Chomiak's long route to reconciling her religion with her sexuality. The church she grew up in was not necessarily one to cast people out for their non-heterosexuality, but it (and her family) was one to approve of the ex-gay movement, to tell Chomiak that god thought homosexuality was disgusting, etc. And since that was the church Chomiak knew and loved, for a long time she thought they must be right—that she was the one who needed to change.
There is a distinction that's missing for me here: the difference between faith and religion. By the former, I mean belief in god (or, more specifically, in this case belief in god as portrayed in the Bible); by the latter, I mean the institution of the church with which Chomiak grew up. To me this distinction is crucial, especially as Chomiak never indicates a questioning of faith throughout the book—but when she says Christian, I understand her to mean not the 2.38 billion people who practice some form of Christianity, but the much, much smaller number of people who practice her church's/family's particular form of conservative Protestantism. I'm left to wonder, then, whether at any point she questioned the religion telling her how to interpret her faith—whether she saw areas of misfit beyond what her religion said about queer relationships, or whether she explored other churches that had the same foundations but different conclusions. (To be fair: I see this a lot in memoirs about conservative religion—and leaving conservative religion—this sense that that particular interpretation is the only form of their faith.) I'd also have loved to know a bit more about Tams's path in religion, because at one point Chomiak says that the reason Tams's family was accepting was 'largely because they weren't Christians' (241); that makes me wonder how Tams herself ended up in this particular religious community herself.
As an aside—and this is not Chomiak's fault, or even the publisher's fault—do not read this on your phone. I should have waited until next week when I could read a hard copy; my eyes still ache from the tiny, cannot-be-sized-up text on my phone.
Still Stace chronicles Chomiak's long route to reconciling her religion with her sexuality. The church she grew up in was not necessarily one to cast people out for their non-heterosexuality, but it (and her family) was one to approve of the ex-gay movement, to tell Chomiak that god thought homosexuality was disgusting, etc. And since that was the church Chomiak knew and loved, for a long time she thought they must be right—that she was the one who needed to change.
There is a distinction that's missing for me here: the difference between faith and religion. By the former, I mean belief in god (or, more specifically, in this case belief in god as portrayed in the Bible); by the latter, I mean the institution of the church with which Chomiak grew up. To me this distinction is crucial, especially as Chomiak never indicates a questioning of faith throughout the book—but when she says Christian, I understand her to mean not the 2.38 billion people who practice some form of Christianity, but the much, much smaller number of people who practice her church's/family's particular form of conservative Protestantism. I'm left to wonder, then, whether at any point she questioned the religion telling her how to interpret her faith—whether she saw areas of misfit beyond what her religion said about queer relationships, or whether she explored other churches that had the same foundations but different conclusions. (To be fair: I see this a lot in memoirs about conservative religion—and leaving conservative religion—this sense that that particular interpretation is the only form of their faith.) I'd also have loved to know a bit more about Tams's path in religion, because at one point Chomiak says that the reason Tams's family was accepting was 'largely because they weren't Christians' (241); that makes me wonder how Tams herself ended up in this particular religious community herself.
As an aside—and this is not Chomiak's fault, or even the publisher's fault—do not read this on your phone. I should have waited until next week when I could read a hard copy; my eyes still ache from the tiny, cannot-be-sized-up text on my phone.