A review by areadingstan
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

‘What was life about other than to find someone whom you could share everything? Every thought, every success, every drama?’

This novel had been on my list for a long while, the final catalyst to read it being @sallygalulareads book club ‘Diversify Your Reading’. I got it out for the library without much expectation, but this turned out to be a masterpiece. 

Rainbow Milk follows a young black boy named Jesse, who leaves behind an oppressive family structure in the Black Country and moves to London, with no concrete plans but the hope that he can be himself there. During his time in London, we follow along with Jesse’s experience exploring the gay scene, and settling into his queer identity that he had repressed for so long. We see him decide to become a sex worker in order to make ends meet in an environment filled with people who don’t see him as an equal. 

I thought this was such a fresh and realistic coming-of-age story, and Mendez has really captured how it feels to be lost somewhere new, to not know where your life is going, but he still makes us feel like it is going to be OK. Mendez’s writing is also so intimate and vivid that I felt we were allowed to know so much of Jesse even though the narration was in the third person, and I felt very connected to him. 

The descriptions are filled with so much detail, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming, more like Mendez is building up layers and layers of the city like a painting. It reminded me a lot of Bryan Washington’s Memorial, in the sense that there was a clear focus and theme that seemed to bring people together; in Washington’s novel this was food, but in Mendez’s, music filled this role. It was such a huge part of Jesse’s identity, and affected the way he saw himself and the world around him. 

The book dealt with issues like racism, sex work, AIDS and family trauma (definitely check TWs) in a tender way, that showed us the experiences Jesse had and how they influenced his choices, but Mendez also showed us that Jesse is more than his trauma and negative experiences, and he was able to discover his own family, follow his passions and heal wounds that seemed like they’d never close. 
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