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belleden 's review for:
Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery
by Casey Parks
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
This book took me a long time to process. I highly recommend the audiobook experience as Parks’ charming Louisiana accent adds a beautiful layer to her story, especially when she speaks about her unique relationship with her hometown.
There are a lot of threads throughout this book I didn’t expect before I picked it up. The premise revolves around a trans man who the author’s grandmother knew as a teen in the 1950s. (Disclaimer: The person in question did not have the language to voice their identity, but this is the closest conclusion the author comes to following a decade of research.) This book would be a completely different experience if it only told the story of this man. Parks uses the journey to explore her relationship with the South and its people, her sexuality and gender presentation, her religious trauma, and most importantly, her mother who struggled with opioid addiction. Parks describes coming of age and coming out as our country’s biggest LGBT+ rights cases were making headlines, all while making the clumsy journey through love and career in her 20s. It was so interesting to listen to someone who, to me, is a queer elder because of her perspective of events that happened when I was too young to understand. I deeply hope that one day this book is listed among must-read queer memoirs.
(I read this as part of a queer book club which was an AMAZING way to read and process this book.)
There are a lot of threads throughout this book I didn’t expect before I picked it up. The premise revolves around a trans man who the author’s grandmother knew as a teen in the 1950s. (Disclaimer: The person in question did not have the language to voice their identity, but this is the closest conclusion the author comes to following a decade of research.) This book would be a completely different experience if it only told the story of this man. Parks uses the journey to explore her relationship with the South and its people, her sexuality and gender presentation, her religious trauma, and most importantly, her mother who struggled with opioid addiction. Parks describes coming of age and coming out as our country’s biggest LGBT+ rights cases were making headlines, all while making the clumsy journey through love and career in her 20s. It was so interesting to listen to someone who, to me, is a queer elder because of her perspective of events that happened when I was too young to understand. I deeply hope that one day this book is listed among must-read queer memoirs.
(I read this as part of a queer book club which was an AMAZING way to read and process this book.)