A review by carlymtk
God Says No by James Hannaham

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.