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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
Interesting and full of facts, funny tales and ever-changing language. However, I’m not sure I will remember anything from it specifically - a lot of information, that when reading felt profound, then left my head right after. Perhaps I’m just not used to reading history books. Nonetheless, as a gay Londoner, it made me feel at home!
informative
This was interesting. I’m not 100% sure how London it was necessarily and like as a whole the book felt a bit disjointed. Like it did follow a chronological order but sometimes it just felt like a list of various people being arrested or not over time. And the AIDs crisis was dealt with in about two pars. I think I would have actually liked it to be a bit longer and go into things in more depth.
Still an interesting topic and works well as an introduction.
Still an interesting topic and works well as an introduction.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia
Though it has quite a bit of interesting trivia in here, I find this book DEEPLY problematic, and thus awful. Extremely triggering for anyone who has sexual-violence related PTSD as well. I'm choosing not to finish it. As the reviewer "Will" wrote in Jan 2018,
"First, he dwells on accounts of sexual assault and violence, as well as pedophilia and pederasty, without making any effort to separate them from consensual sexual encounters."
I truly don't understand how more reviewers haven't been commenting on this. I was surprised to hear the author is gay because such a deep convolution of gayness and pedophilia/pederasty offended _me_, and I am not a gay man. The author's narrative voice is present throughout the book, and yet never makes any sort of commentary suggesting any differences between the unbelievable amount of rape (of adults and children/teens) he covers and gay men/the gay community. I honest to god started to think the book was written by one of those American religious extremists who DO think gay = pedophilic. It did not help at all that the voice of the audiobook narrator did NOT take on any different tone in these parts, to the point where I had to pause it a few times because i was overwhelmed with the lighthearted tone that both the text and voice were taking with too-graphic accounts of rape and molestation.
As far as I got in the book I feel like the women he covered were discussed well enough-- not much on them, but I totally understand that the lack of materials is likely behind it, which is something historical research of even straight, cis women deal with, and yet he managed to find material other than graphic sexual assaults, and I really don't see why the hell he saw no problem including graphic and jaunty accounts of rape and molestation, pedophilia and pederasty in all the sections about gay men.
"First, he dwells on accounts of sexual assault and violence, as well as pedophilia and pederasty, without making any effort to separate them from consensual sexual encounters."
I truly don't understand how more reviewers haven't been commenting on this. I was surprised to hear the author is gay because such a deep convolution of gayness and pedophilia/pederasty offended _me_, and I am not a gay man. The author's narrative voice is present throughout the book, and yet never makes any sort of commentary suggesting any differences between the unbelievable amount of rape (of adults and children/teens) he covers and gay men/the gay community. I honest to god started to think the book was written by one of those American religious extremists who DO think gay = pedophilic. It did not help at all that the voice of the audiobook narrator did NOT take on any different tone in these parts, to the point where I had to pause it a few times because i was overwhelmed with the lighthearted tone that both the text and voice were taking with too-graphic accounts of rape and molestation.
As far as I got in the book I feel like the women he covered were discussed well enough-- not much on them, but I totally understand that the lack of materials is likely behind it, which is something historical research of even straight, cis women deal with, and yet he managed to find material other than graphic sexual assaults, and I really don't see why the hell he saw no problem including graphic and jaunty accounts of rape and molestation, pedophilia and pederasty in all the sections about gay men.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Queer City is a fascinating exploration and celebration of queer life in London throughout the centuries. The book gives you a great insight into an underexposed (but apparently very vibrant) part of urban history. It discusses various eras and doesn't shy away from crude topics. The book also provides a lot of quotes from contemporary writers, which are very interesting to read as they were often hidden away in the following centuries. I'm looking at queer(coded) works, both old and recent, in a new light thanks to this book. I had a few issues with Queer City. I get that most historical records are from trials but it does bother me how heavily the book focuses on sexual assault between men, as well as pedophilia. I'm glad women were regularly mentioned but nonetheless the book is mostly about gay men. Some chapters are just extensive lists and that can get a bit tedious. Despite that, Queer City is a great read for anyone wanting to learn more about London's LGBT history!
Absolutely fascinating. I would love to see this kind of comprehensive history complied about loads of other major cities. I can't imagine the hours of research that must have gone into uncovering the many stories told in this book. It's a very interesting account of how attitudes towards sex, gender, and class have shifted over the centuries.
How did they gay? It sounds a silly question, but for a long time it had to be done very convert and cleverly. You can almost feel gay London come alive around you as you read the goalpost being moved forward, back and hidden in some cases. And your heart breaks for those every time the shift happens just as folks are starting to get footing. This is not a great man tale. This is more about humanity and it's potential to be great when we work together and free ourselves from useless hate. this book is sad but hopeful .brave but honest . Scary but should be read more as it somehow lets history unroll and the feelings rush out in perfect timing. Uncanny.
Wouldn''t recommend as an academic text, but it was perfect as a very entertaining audiobook.