A review by isabelthearcher
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

4.0

This was a very enjoyable read. I found Mike to be an interesting narrator as he tended to question himself and others around him. This book deals with issues of homophobia, racism, transphobia, sexuality, gender and much more. At some points I think it was quite cliche, however these are the conversations between young adults that happen. Dean Atta also interspersed Mike’s poems throughout the novel, which helped to create an impression of his thoughts and feelings of his experiences. Lennie was an amazing character and put forward lots of discussions of fetishisation of black people. I can’t speak on the representation but Dean Atta being a black author gives me trust in this novel. It is clear that being black and queer must be extremely hard in our society and political climate. I did see a review on Tiktok that pointed out the love of RuPaul for Drag in this novel and how this is problematic because he is transphobic - apparently - again I’m not in this community. Furthermore there were parts of the novel where it discussed in detail what a trans person’s sexuality and genital parts are - of which I had no opinion because I am a white heterosexual woman. This is why I had to drop it down a star because I these communities deserve to be fully represented without being bargained to be just a plot line in a story. Nonetheless I would recommend this story to everyone, especially queer youth because it gives such a great depiction of growing up.