A review by lezreadalot
She of the Mountains by Vivek Shraya

4.0

He remembered the double helix structure of DNA he had been shown in biology class and thought, how appropriate that it looked like a chain.

A searing look at the complexities of body and gender, told in dual narratives; one of a man learning to love his body, and the other a retelling of Hindu mythology through the eyes of different gods. I loved this for its commentary on intra-community policing, how harmful it can be, and how useless it is when compared with how expansive and complicated gender and sexuality and attraction can be. The protagonist deals with a lot of biphobia, and people of all sexualities foisting labels upon him. There are some great passages about how some gay people want all of us to fit into this one box and that's just... not possible. The romance was so lovely and heartaching; I adored the sense of exploration and discovery and just how enamoured he was with her. I really liked the writing; very poetic and fluid. There were some instances of stylistic repetition that really didn't translate well to audiobook format, but otherwise, I really liked it.

Speaking of, I listened to the audiobook as read by the author, and it was lovely. This was really different from anything I've ever read in terms of style and format, and that newness was refreshing. Can't wait to read more of her work!