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A review by deepbutdazzlingdarkness
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
3.0
I have really mixed feelings about this, and it was hard to rate. Personally, I didn’t agree with a lot of Allen’s conclusions. I totally support the premise that there are queer people even in red states and that they deserve support and to not be dismissed. I lived in Nashville and loved it there, I have so many queer friends who still live there, and the lesbian bar The Lipstick Lounge is one of my absolute favorite places. I loved that aspect of this book, and parts of it made me really emotional, but I didn’t like the sort of pitting against each other of cities vs. small towns.
I'm a city person and always will be, and the idea that many people in big cities are miserable…sure, but not automatically BECAUSE they’re living in a city. I accept that Allen would never want to live in New York City, but the denigration of public transportation is um. Something. And she specifically has a discussion of intersectionality and yet doesn’t really mention that as a reason why people would want to move to/stay in big cities??? Overall I did really enjoy this, but that aspect of it bothered me. The audiobook was a quick listen, and I always like when they’re read by the author!
I'm a city person and always will be, and the idea that many people in big cities are miserable…sure, but not automatically BECAUSE they’re living in a city. I accept that Allen would never want to live in New York City, but the denigration of public transportation is um. Something. And she specifically has a discussion of intersectionality and yet doesn’t really mention that as a reason why people would want to move to/stay in big cities??? Overall I did really enjoy this, but that aspect of it bothered me. The audiobook was a quick listen, and I always like when they’re read by the author!