A review by bookreviewswithkb
Burning Butch by R/B Mertz

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad

5.0

“all i needed to do to keep the peace with him was erase myself.”

y’all this book is so under appreciated!!! 

the writing is impeccable, the story is everything. it’s an exploration of the ways religion can be oppressive when the message is that you are unlovable for who you are, specifically for holding a queer identity. the fragmentation this creates internally, the way it can make you no longer want to exist in a space where you have to choose between your religion and yourself. the ways we can deny our own humanity when those around us don’t accept us 

Mertz is so incredibly vulnerable and honest, they are unflinching in their narrative. this is one beautiful memoir 

“In reality, it was just people talking to each other, through centuries—carvings on walls, poems, radio waves, TV signals, and the internet—telling stories to show each other what we can survive, the chorus of survivors, of bad women and queers, of teachers and artists, repeating that same thing over and over in all the different languages: Get up, come out: resurrect yourself.”
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