A review by beblackbeloved
In My Father's House by E. Lynn Harris

3.0

This is probably my least favorite E. Lynn Harris book. I love the representation his work offers, and the issues that he raises but a bulk of this novel felt like drama building up, and up, and up—waiting for something to happen which would explain it all. Unfortunately, this didn’t occur. The ending was so…random. It almost felt like an attempt at crime fiction, which also happened in his novel Basketball Jones, but didn’t work. He soars writing about Black queer men, and their experiences. Diving into mysteries, crime, and unfortunately, politics, is not really his strong suit. He tried writing in real time, the election of the nations first Black President, and covering pop culture issues like Chris Brown and Rihanna, and I don’t know if it’s aged well. When I was younger, his main characters were seductive and I admired a few of them, now they appear to be very old-fashioned, and almost…slut-shame-y? This was an interesting read, I was invested in the drama, but completely let down.