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A review by ekyoder
Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery
4.0
I think about how much I miss The Toast (RIP) pretty frequently and grew up evangelical, so I'm a lot of Daniel's target audience, and still was too unfamiliar with about half of the references here to really get some of the essays. That said, when something hit me in the emotions, it really hit. The "When I have abs" essay made me laugh out loud. Jacob wrestling the angel as an exploration of naming blew me away.
I truly get that Daniel was trying to avoid the Trans Tragedy Memoir TM or the Raised Religions Tragedy Memoir TM, but I did like the times he wrote personally or got more vulnerable. I loved how he wrote about his relationship with Grace throughout the book, from just the simple humor and bewilderment about her refusal to use an umbrella, to her confidence and support helped him with some of his first public moments as a trans man. It was clear from the little snippets, sentences here and there, that their relationship, and its evolution over the years, has been such a source of strength for him, and I loved finding these, amid the dense layered jokes about mythology or Pilgrims Progress.
I truly get that Daniel was trying to avoid the Trans Tragedy Memoir TM or the Raised Religions Tragedy Memoir TM, but I did like the times he wrote personally or got more vulnerable. I loved how he wrote about his relationship with Grace throughout the book, from just the simple humor and bewilderment about her refusal to use an umbrella, to her confidence and support helped him with some of his first public moments as a trans man. It was clear from the little snippets, sentences here and there, that their relationship, and its evolution over the years, has been such a source of strength for him, and I loved finding these, amid the dense layered jokes about mythology or Pilgrims Progress.