Scan barcode
johnathanreads's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This was an okay story following the journey of a gay man who tries his best to live in the most heterosexual way possible to please his family and God. While the main character is extremely naive and obsessed with white men, my biggest gripe was the terrible editing. It seems like someone edited this on MS Word by using Find & Replace. There is no reason "I-95" should be written as "1-95" repeatedly or "Jesus" be written as "]esus". It's just sloppy and distracts from the overall story.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Racial slurs
nates_pages's review against another edition
1.0
This is a dated, cliched, and at times offensive tale of a lost soul trying to find salvation from being gay though born-again Christianity. It tries to be funny, tries to empathize with the main character's naivety , tries too hard. None of the pathetic caricatures in this book are likeable, have redeemable qualities, or are 300-pages-worth of your time.
carlymtk's review against another edition
5.0
this book blew me away. i couldn't say that i loved in the sense that it...was good in the conventional sense. it just spoke to me in a way that i didn't anticipate. i bought it because i thought it was nonfiction, and it had that feel throughout the whole book. it's a novel, however, about the struggle of homosexuality and the Church. it reads like a memoir, and that makes it terrifying. i was deeply affected by this book; i found it hard to put down, hard to give up on. i was repulsed by it, in love with it, but most of all, it made me think. i don't know who i was rooting for throughout the book. i wanted gary to be happy most of all. i wanted him to leave some things behind, and then i wanted him to be himself. it was awful. but, i was able to step back and appreciate the author for initiating those feelings in me. i cried through parts of these books because my emotions were so strong and involved in what was happening. the book was raw. i don't know if i could handle reading it again. i feel it's an important book to read, however. even though it's graphic and rough, it's enlightening. it changed my schemas, slightly.
deathnote's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
dylanatastic's review against another edition
4.0
I love Gary. I hate Gary. But he is so simple minded you can't really hate him, more like feel sorry for him. Love the characters! I feel like if I went to Atlanta, I could maybe run into the theater troupe, that is how well the author describes everyone.
prebeartobemoosified's review against another edition
really poorly formatted and edited. a fine story that makes u feel a little bit worse. hard to rate..some of it was funny…the character was developed well and v believable in the constant inconsistency and contradictions. often sad and uncomfortable. all the characters are so oddly real—unable to be really categorized or characterized bc they all make choices and verbalize ideas that fall away from who they seemed to be but in a lifelike way rather than a poorly written way. i wouldn’t recommend it but it’s certainly gripping.
lisawhelpley's review against another edition
3.0
First of all - I saw this listed as a memoir when I bought it. Unfortunately, when you read on a Kindle, you don't see a book jacket, or anything indicating it's a novel. This is a novel. I didn't find that out until I finished the book today. I feel stupid that I didn't figure that out, but I'm kind of surprised because the book was awkward and kind of did read like a memoir, in that it wasn't elaborate or thorough...as if it really were a memoir by somebody who didn't remember much, but did remember odd details.
This book kept me reading -- I wanted to see what was going to happen. I won't spoil the ending but the way it ended didn't satisfy me.
I was appalled by the errors and formatting in this book. Terrible and disappointing, coming from McSweeney's.
This book kept me reading -- I wanted to see what was going to happen. I won't spoil the ending but the way it ended didn't satisfy me.
I was appalled by the errors and formatting in this book. Terrible and disappointing, coming from McSweeney's.
bmanglass's review against another edition
4.0
Blatantly lifting this review from a comment I wrote to a Goodreads friend who asked how I was enjoying it. :P Somewhat absurd in its plotting, very stream of consciousness, but with real heart underneath and the MC's voice is extremely well-developed and believable. Funny, too!
natesea's review against another edition
1.0
This is a dated, cliched, and at times offensive tale of a lost soul trying to find salvation from being gay though born-again Christianity. It tries to be funny, tries to empathize with the main character's naivety , tries too hard. None of the pathetic caricatures in this book are likeable, have redeemable qualities, or are 300-pages-worth of your time.