Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life by Jonathan Van Ness

8 reviews

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

Poignant and beautifully written collection of essays. Van Ness is searingly honest and well informed, and articulates the subjects so well that I think they should be as widely read as possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Animal death, Violence, Racism, Homophobia, and Drug abuse

radmusikitty's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Racism

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Grief

Minor: Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Police brutality

saaaam_j's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

I’ve been a fan of JVN for a long time and I was not disappointed by this book. I’ve listened to their podcast, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, and the bit-size format of the chapters in this book read very similar to the podcast. I love getting a deeper look into their life experiences while taking away a larger picture of where their experiences fit into the US/global politics. This was probably my fastest read this year. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Drug use

olivia_goode's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

Informative, passionate and deeply personal. Inspires me to educate myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Drug use, and Racism

essie__reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Please look up TW/CW for this book- there are a ton because the book discusses JVN's childhood trauma, sobriety, and experiences as a queer person and all the good/bad that came along with them. 

In this book JVN discusses their life and experiences as a queer individual, while incorporating significant and relevant historical and political events into these Essays when he can. I found this to be a really informative book and thought that it was very hopeful for the changes that could be made in society to improve the ways of life for BIPOC and queer individuals, without being naiive or ignoring the harm that these people have and continue to endure in this country due to the corrupt political systems in the US/white privelege. I would definitely recommend this. I enjoyed JVNs narration and learning more about their life experiences.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Drug use, Body shaming, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Addiction, Sexual assault, Racism, Transphobia, Hate crime, and Gun violence

caidyn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

Another enjoyable book by JVN! I enjoyed all of the essays that he wrote and how they were marked by his own humor. I can't wait to see if he publishes anything else!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Addiction

Moderate: Racism

imstephtacular's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Hate crime, Addiction, Colonisation, Homophobia, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Dysphoria, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Cancer and Car accident

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective

3.0

I love JVN so much and think their insights are valuable and often funny, but something about this collection of essays wasn't doing it for me. I loved the descriptions and details about their life that were peppered throughout, especially their chapters about living with HIV and the queer history of their hometown which seemed to be a healing research experience for JVN, given their complicated relationship with the town. I guess my issue with parts of the book was that there were sections where I didn't feel I was learning anything new, which is not to say that JVN's insights aren't important, they just personally were repetitive for me at times. I didn't like this book as much as their debut memoir, but I will always read anything they put out because I enjoy their company.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Medical content, Child abuse, Bullying, Racism, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Pedophilia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury