1.04k reviews for:

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages

Saundra Mitchell

3.92 AVERAGE

krisistina's review against another edition

4.0

---

i had to read a selection of short stories for uni, and then i decided to go for the whole book. some of the stories i enjoyed a lot more than others, but overall i found the collection to be quite wholesome

becca_is_reading's review against another edition

3.0

---

This anthology had some beautiful stories that were beautifully written. My favorite stories were: “And They Didn’t Kiss At The End” and “The End of the World As We Know It” and “Three Witches”

nico_29's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

3.5

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Overall, I found this a really uneven anthology. I'm going to talk about the five five-star rated stories, possibly mention some details of the others, and ignore the rest--except to say: there were several stories here that could have done with an extra editing pass, and maybe I would have liked them better. At least one tailed off into incoherent exposition, and I have no idea what was actually going on. 

What I loved:

• Roja (Anna-Marie McLemore) - outlaw young man in prison, and the young woman who is working to free him (I didn't note the setting, but historical possibly USA?)
• The Sweet Trade (Natalie C Parker) - two young women run away from their wedding days, fleeing husbands who are not nice men. Fabulously romantic thing about escaping to freedom and first love. (again, historical possibly USA)
• And they don't kiss at the end (Nilah Magruder) - very sweet gentle romance where the whole story pivots on good communication and people being their better selves as two teens in the late 1970s work towards a relationship. 
• New Year (Malinda Lo) - slice of life story of a teen living in Chinatown in San Francisco in the 1950s, looking forward to what their options are. Some complicated race relations stuff happens quietly in the background, Lily has some understanding, but in a very teen kind of way.  
• The Coven (Kate Scelsa) - a slight, spare text more about the setting than the people. France, possibly immediately post-war (I did not note which one), Gertrude Stein, a cafe full of lesbians, a chronic illness that might be a haunting. 

What bothered me, a non-specific list

• one of the reasons I say that this needed a better edit was that at least two of the stories had extraneous details just kind of sprinkled through, in a really uncanny valley kind of way. 
• I used the word 'slight' for more than one story; for the one above, that was a feature, for the others, I felt I didn't really get a story, not even a rambling or stream of consciousness one
• viewpoint characters who don't seem to have an understanding of themselves as people. 

also: I don't think I knew, going in, that this was predominantly a historical fiction anthology. That isn't an issue, but it did mean that it took me a while to settle with the reading (but, as the first three stories are in my 5 star list, it didn't affect my enjoyment). 

sushibear74's review against another edition

3.75

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

lottie1803's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

slugluv's review against another edition

3.0

---

I really liked a few of these short queer period piece stories! Most of them I found trite and not super compelling.

tortello_alla_zucca's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

amariew125's review

3.25

funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

lilencius's review against another edition

3.0

---

(2.5, rounded up as I usually do)
I had a wholeass review planned out but now I'm too lazy to write it, so here were my main points:
• not every queer story has to be about romance!! esp. not stories that have liberty to be set in any period!! queerness is about more than romance: we are not queer because of ou relationship TO someone else, but rather because of our relationship with ourselves. this wasn't explored at all
• most of the stories are the same
• (not true for all of the stories but for most of them): a short story is NOT a tiny novel!! they are written differently!!
• adds to the last one, but how the hell do you think you'll develop a romance in 20 pages or less?? stay away from that theme, it's not gonna work out in this format!!
• i think a lot of these authors have very few experience with short form content, but i haven't googled it. i just thought so
• the really good ones that I REALLY enjoyed: and they don't kiss at the end, the inferno & the butterfly, molly's lips, three witches, and esp. every shade of red & the girl with the blue lantern
a couple of others are pretty good, but mostly they frustrated me because of what I pointed out!! It's not terrible though!! Just plain okay.