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idesofjaim's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Brandon is a friend of a friend, so I’ve been familiar with him, his work, and the story of Drew for a few years now. Hearing about Drew’s beautiful soul is always a two-sided event; a joy to see the light he brought to those closest to him, and an immense sadness to know all of this is spoken in past tense.
Hearing about Brandon’s younger years was just as painful, yet all too familiar. Being ostracized from the family and community you were given, being othered, finding yourself in horrible situations only because you sought to be desired and accepted, so many unfortunately common things among the queer community. Add to that the layers of additional identifies, Brandon himself being Black. This book hits home about the profound impact of found family, and that makes a tragedy like Pulse that much more devastating.
Looking at this purely as a book, I find Brandon to be a great writer. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, narrated by him, as it is an enjoyable experience. There were some points that gave me a bit of whiplash as the timeline shifted back and forth, or where it was unclear whether we’d now moved to a more present state or still back in the past. Overall, though, I think everything tied together nicely, and I commend Brandon on not only writing this all down but the further bravery of reading it on recording for the world. I can imagine for someone in his position you get sick of hearing about bravery and how strong you are, but it is still very brave to put yourself in a position to recount all of this time and time again.
Hearing about Brandon’s younger years was just as painful, yet all too familiar. Being ostracized from the family and community you were given, being othered, finding yourself in horrible situations only because you sought to be desired and accepted, so many unfortunately common things among the queer community. Add to that the layers of additional identifies, Brandon himself being Black. This book hits home about the profound impact of found family, and that makes a tragedy like Pulse that much more devastating.
Looking at this purely as a book, I find Brandon to be a great writer. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, narrated by him, as it is an enjoyable experience. There were some points that gave me a bit of whiplash as the timeline shifted back and forth, or where it was unclear whether we’d now moved to a more present state or still back in the past. Overall, though, I think everything tied together nicely, and I commend Brandon on not only writing this all down but the further bravery of reading it on recording for the world. I can imagine for someone in his position you get sick of hearing about bravery and how strong you are, but it is still very brave to put yourself in a position to recount all of this time and time again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Rape, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime
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