Reviews

Blackouts by Justin Torres

Only show reviews with written explanations

tjmouse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

ka_cam's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad fast-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

5.0

A meditative, reflective, moody and sometimes playful genre-blending history/memoir/hagiography/scrapbook/and more following a young gay man as he accompanies an elder gay man is dying. From different generations both share Puerto Rican heritage and a brief overlapping stay at a psych facility. Weaves oral, written, visual archives with an interpersonal relationship and personal reflections in a way I found compelling and thought provoking, also learned some queer history. Loved the ruminations on the very porous boundaries between ‘reality’ and memory, archives, history, psychology, and storytelling. The power of being recorded and excercising power over what is recorded and what is erased- challenging binaries of known/unknown and truth/fiction. Encourages the reader to recognize and appreciate the past, the ways it is present, our received and constructed narratives or lenses, and the ways we can leave space for what we we never truly know about the past and those who live/d in it. Some of the thoughts can come off a bit trite, and I can see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed!

Content Warnings

rogeliopeschard's review against another edition

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4.0

It feels like a fever dream (in a good way) that could be adapted as an A24 movie

lyndsay_bibliophile's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was such a curious, complex read. This book is fiction unlike anything I’ve read before. I don’t know if there is a correct classification or genre for a book like this. It follows two unlikely queer friends - one young, one old. And throughout the book they exchange stories with one another. It’s centered around the book “Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns,” published in 1941. You can’t always tell which stories are embelished by the storyteller and which parts are historically factual and which is fiction. It touches on institutionalization, age, queer experiences, patriarchy, power imbalance, and the tenderness and fragility of relationships.

A large part of the storytelling follows the experiences of Jan Gay, an activist and pioneer of gay and lesbian research in the 30’s. This storytelling is historically accurate, with some fiction weaved in.

When Juan is beginning to lose fragments of what others share with him, I see the parallels of his memory gaps and the blackouts in “Sex Variants.”

This will be a book that stays with me a while.