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A review by killyennn
Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey
4.0
4.5 stars!
i picked this up at the library with no context, having never heard of it, and without looking it up on goodreads first. i’m glad i did that, because looking at the other reviews i wouldn’t have given it a chance if i had seen them first.
even so, i kind of thought i would hate this book and DNF it. the plot is over the top, the characters sound immensely cliché, and my initial few-page skim showed some painful dialogue that was awkward and uncomfortable. i gave it a chance anyway, and completely devoured this book in about 3 hours.
what i thought would be fun in a ha-ha way, turned out to be a pretty poignant and intriguing portrayal of the clash of small-town, rural america and The Gays ™️ coming in from NYC and LA on behalf of a nonprofit looking to work with what was named the most homophobic town in America, to see how people’s minds may change when confronted with living among, and getting to know real life queers. this is a series of interconnected short stories that span perspectives from teenagers to elder folks living in assisted care.
what i loved most about this book was how the author took cliché stereotypes and an oversimplified, idealistic plot and brought immense complexity, empathy, and nuance to every character’s story. don’t mistake this for me saying that every character is likable because they certainly aren’t, and this doesn’t read as a “we just need to befriend homophobes and they’ll magically stop murdering us”, either. but rather, an interesting and at times, incisive look at the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that many of us are going through similar experiences, even though our lives and approaches are immensely different.
give this one a chance and it will probably surprise you! it’s certainly one of the most unique books i’ve read this year.
i picked this up at the library with no context, having never heard of it, and without looking it up on goodreads first. i’m glad i did that, because looking at the other reviews i wouldn’t have given it a chance if i had seen them first.
even so, i kind of thought i would hate this book and DNF it. the plot is over the top, the characters sound immensely cliché, and my initial few-page skim showed some painful dialogue that was awkward and uncomfortable. i gave it a chance anyway, and completely devoured this book in about 3 hours.
what i thought would be fun in a ha-ha way, turned out to be a pretty poignant and intriguing portrayal of the clash of small-town, rural america and The Gays ™️ coming in from NYC and LA on behalf of a nonprofit looking to work with what was named the most homophobic town in America, to see how people’s minds may change when confronted with living among, and getting to know real life queers. this is a series of interconnected short stories that span perspectives from teenagers to elder folks living in assisted care.
what i loved most about this book was how the author took cliché stereotypes and an oversimplified, idealistic plot and brought immense complexity, empathy, and nuance to every character’s story. don’t mistake this for me saying that every character is likable because they certainly aren’t, and this doesn’t read as a “we just need to befriend homophobes and they’ll magically stop murdering us”, either. but rather, an interesting and at times, incisive look at the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that many of us are going through similar experiences, even though our lives and approaches are immensely different.
give this one a chance and it will probably surprise you! it’s certainly one of the most unique books i’ve read this year.