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A review by lyndsay_bibliophile
Blackouts by Justin Torres
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was such a curious, complex read. This book is fiction unlike anything I’ve read before. I don’t know if there is a correct classification or genre for a book like this. It follows two unlikely queer friends - one young, one old. And throughout the book they exchange stories with one another. It’s centered around the book “Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns,” published in 1941. You can’t always tell which stories are embelished by the storyteller and which parts are historically factual and which is fiction. It touches on institutionalization, age, queer experiences, patriarchy, power imbalance, and the tenderness and fragility of relationships.
A large part of the storytelling follows the experiences of Jan Gay, an activist and pioneer of gay and lesbian research in the 30’s. This storytelling is historically accurate, with some fiction weaved in.
When Juan is beginning to lose fragments of what others share with him, I see the parallels of his memory gaps and the blackouts in “Sex Variants.”
This will be a book that stays with me a while.
A large part of the storytelling follows the experiences of Jan Gay, an activist and pioneer of gay and lesbian research in the 30’s. This storytelling is historically accurate, with some fiction weaved in.
When Juan is beginning to lose fragments of what others share with him, I see the parallels of his memory gaps and the blackouts in “Sex Variants.”
This will be a book that stays with me a while.