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A review by waynethelibrarian
City of Night by John Rechy
Did not finish book. Stopped at 72%.
While I enjoyed parts of this book, and thought there was truly beautiful prose at times… I cannot get past the sheer amount of homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, and general disliking of anyone that isn’t a “fit white man” in this novel.
Anytime a character is introduced that we are meant to dislike it is immediately paired with “they are a queen(trans), black, fat, effeminate, etc.”. I do not know if this was truly the intention of the author, or if this is just what my modern taste have picked up. I just feel as though I have read other gay classics that have felt more human.
If I was able to rate this DNF, I’d give it a 1.5/5. While there were moments that I truly enjoyed the writing style of, it was blurred out by the sheer antiquated hatefulness of the writing.
Anytime a character is introduced that we are meant to dislike it is immediately paired with “they are a queen(trans), black, fat, effeminate, etc.”. I do not know if this was truly the intention of the author, or if this is just what my modern taste have picked up. I just feel as though I have read other gay classics that have felt more human.
If I was able to rate this DNF, I’d give it a 1.5/5. While there were moments that I truly enjoyed the writing style of, it was blurred out by the sheer antiquated hatefulness of the writing.