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A review by auntieyorgareads
My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is one of those books that I kept seeing floating around on my various social media channels and thought the cover was absolutely AMAZING! After reading the synopsis, I requested the audiobook and decided to give it a go. I am so very glad that I did as I am forever changed by this candidly humorous yet emotionally raw work of LGBTQ+ historical fiction with a gay Black POV by Rasheed Newson.
Earl "Trey" Singleton III, a young Black man from a prominent Indianapolis family, decides to leave his family and trust fund behind to experience life in New York City in the 1980s and live openly as a gay man during the height of the AIDS pandemic. Through his eyes, we get to experience what it was like to live in an apartment building run by the greedy and despicable Fred Trump, feel the excitement and anonymity of going to a gay bath house in Harlem, mourn the number of gay men killed by AIDS and fight for civil rights with ACT UP, all while running from a traumatic past that follows and haunts Trey in NYC.
I laughed. I cried. I smiled. I raged. Words cannot do justice to the range of emotions I felt while listening to this book. Speaking of listening, the narration by Jelani Alladin was excellent, superb, and fabulous! Alladin brought Trey to life from the pages of the book and it was not long before I felt they were one and the same person.
This was a 5-star read for me and I highly recommend it to everyone. It's an excellent historically accurate LGBTQ+ story of social and political issues during the 1980s from a marginalized POV. Just read it. You won't regret it!
I received an advance review copy of this audiobook for free from Macmillian Audio and NetGalley, and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily as a courtesy.
Earl "Trey" Singleton III, a young Black man from a prominent Indianapolis family, decides to leave his family and trust fund behind to experience life in New York City in the 1980s and live openly as a gay man during the height of the AIDS pandemic. Through his eyes, we get to experience what it was like to live in an apartment building run by the greedy and despicable Fred Trump, feel the excitement and anonymity of going to a gay bath house in Harlem, mourn the number of gay men killed by AIDS and fight for civil rights with ACT UP, all while running from a traumatic past that follows and haunts Trey in NYC.
I laughed. I cried. I smiled. I raged. Words cannot do justice to the range of emotions I felt while listening to this book. Speaking of listening, the narration by Jelani Alladin was excellent, superb, and fabulous! Alladin brought Trey to life from the pages of the book and it was not long before I felt they were one and the same person.
This was a 5-star read for me and I highly recommend it to everyone. It's an excellent historically accurate LGBTQ+ story of social and political issues during the 1980s from a marginalized POV. Just read it. You won't regret it!
I received an advance review copy of this audiobook for free from Macmillian Audio and NetGalley, and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily as a courtesy.