A review by jessdekkerreads
Coexistence: Stories by Billy-Ray Belcourt

5.0

(influenced to read this collection by @literaryiggy and @barandthebookcase) 

 

A stunning collection about queer love, Cree and Indigenous people, characters experiencing aging and longing for more time, yearning for more life; stories about growing apart; loss of desire; the healing nature of poetry and writing; questions of intimacy; the feeling of wanting to escape; loneliness, grief and mourning; attempting to let go, nostalgia and heartbreak. It’s intimate and oh so brilliant. 

 

“Lucy’s love opened space inside his mind for different memories. That was how love changed people: it made you want to give yourself over to new pasts, to future emotional histories. It made you ache to be alive.” - Outside, pg. 97 

 

Also, the last page of the last story made me cry….hard. – When I tell you I underlined almost every single page in this collection, it’s true.