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A review by heyleigh05
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
4.0
4.5 stars A joyful coming of age story
Ok, so I loved this book! If I had a physical copy of it in front of me I would be hugging it tightly and squealing! It just brought me joy and made me happy. I had to force myself to put the book down so I could get some sleep. I just really enjoyed it; it made me smile and it made me laugh and I felt so light-hearted after finishing it. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was written in verse. I didn’t know this going into it but I enjoyed it. The novel also has an autobiographical tone and when I googled the author, Dean Atta, I realized that this novel is reflective of his upbringing. This is a coming-of-age story told through Michael’s poetry. It reminds me of The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo and I also loved that book so lovers of that book I highly recommend this one.
I thought Michael’s character was so relatable. I couldn’t relate to the exact events of his life but his personality and his storytelling really resonated with me. Michael is a charismatic character so I felt like I was on the journey with him. The relationships in this book are what drive the story forward. Michael has such different relationships with all of the characters so it illustrated him as a multi-dimensional character. Michael goes through the struggle that many teenagers go through from middle school through university. He is on a journey of self-exploration and reconciling his identity. His struggle to fit in with other students clashes with his self-expression. He learned that he cannot be his authentic self while trying to be what others expect of him.
Dean Atta tackles a lot of topics that are very relevant today. He discusses issues such as internalized racism, internalized homophobia, microaggressions, connecting to your ancestry, paternal abandonment (men truly ain’t sh*t), gender identity, racial profiling done by the police, and more. Something we see Michael struggle with is reconciling his mixed-race heritage. He feels simultaneously connected and disconnected from both sides of his cultural heritage. His mother is Greek Cypriot and he has the love of her and her family but he feels disconnected because he doesn’t speak the language. His father’s side is Jamaican and his father’s side of the family loves him but he feels disconnected from the place of their origins. Not only does he grapple with his racial/ethnic identity, but his sexual identity as well. His introduction to drag forces him to ask questions about his sexuality as well as his gender expression. He alluded to a really important question that I think all cis-gender people need to ask themselves. What does it mean to be cis and what privileges come with that? We’ve never had to question our gender so it’s important to understand the implications of being cis-gender. Anyway, Michael experiences a lot of internal and external conflict concerning brace and sexuality and I just really enjoyed reading his journey.
Now I do have some criticisms of the novel. Since it covers the first 18 years of Michael’s life, the pacing of the novel is rather quick. I think that because the pacing was so quick a lot of details and moments that I would have like to have known more about were glossed over. A topic or character would be introduced, the context would be explained, and then the book would move on to the next thing. Another criticism I have is that there were some problematic things that I don’t think were entirely resolved. To start, I was concerned when Kieran, a young black student at Michael’s school, was in a fight and he was described as scary and intimidating. This might seem nit-picky but this is a real stereotype for black men and it has very real implications. I wish that was handled better. Also, Daisy, Michael’s best friend made some statements that alluded to her internalized racism, but that was never really addressed. I suppose you could make the argument that things like internalized racism/homophobia can’t be rectified overnight, but I wish Atta addressed this more head-on. Another criticism I have is that one character had an entire monologue where they said that refusing to date black men and only dating black men are both forms of racism because one is internalized racism and the other is fetishizing. However, this same character, who is black, still decided to date the girl who said that she only dates black guys. They don’t address her fetishizing black men and he seems to longer care that her dating preferences are problematic. Also, after Michael and that character (Lenny) gets kicked out of the club (basically for being black), that female character stays in at the club and abandons them. She’s clearly demonstrated that she’s a terrible ally and her relationships with black people are suspect but the author doesn’t dive deeper into this. She still ends up being one of Michael’s friends. I wasn’t very happy with that.
With all that said, while there are problematic aspects, I still really enjoyed the book! When I finished it I was a little sad because I wanted it to be longer and I just wanted to know more. I especially wanted to know what would happen between Michael and Kieran but I guess I’ll just have to use my imagination. *sigh* I just really loved this book and I might read it again and maybe even buy a hard copy. Even now when I’m writing this review I’m smiling wistfully about this book! ☺️ In short, I highly recommend it.
Ok, so I loved this book! If I had a physical copy of it in front of me I would be hugging it tightly and squealing! It just brought me joy and made me happy. I had to force myself to put the book down so I could get some sleep. I just really enjoyed it; it made me smile and it made me laugh and I felt so light-hearted after finishing it. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was written in verse. I didn’t know this going into it but I enjoyed it. The novel also has an autobiographical tone and when I googled the author, Dean Atta, I realized that this novel is reflective of his upbringing. This is a coming-of-age story told through Michael’s poetry. It reminds me of The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo and I also loved that book so lovers of that book I highly recommend this one.
I thought Michael’s character was so relatable. I couldn’t relate to the exact events of his life but his personality and his storytelling really resonated with me. Michael is a charismatic character so I felt like I was on the journey with him. The relationships in this book are what drive the story forward. Michael has such different relationships with all of the characters so it illustrated him as a multi-dimensional character. Michael goes through the struggle that many teenagers go through from middle school through university. He is on a journey of self-exploration and reconciling his identity. His struggle to fit in with other students clashes with his self-expression. He learned that he cannot be his authentic self while trying to be what others expect of him.
Dean Atta tackles a lot of topics that are very relevant today. He discusses issues such as internalized racism, internalized homophobia, microaggressions, connecting to your ancestry, paternal abandonment (men truly ain’t sh*t), gender identity, racial profiling done by the police, and more. Something we see Michael struggle with is reconciling his mixed-race heritage. He feels simultaneously connected and disconnected from both sides of his cultural heritage. His mother is Greek Cypriot and he has the love of her and her family but he feels disconnected because he doesn’t speak the language. His father’s side is Jamaican and his father’s side of the family loves him but he feels disconnected from the place of their origins. Not only does he grapple with his racial/ethnic identity, but his sexual identity as well. His introduction to drag forces him to ask questions about his sexuality as well as his gender expression. He alluded to a really important question that I think all cis-gender people need to ask themselves. What does it mean to be cis and what privileges come with that? We’ve never had to question our gender so it’s important to understand the implications of being cis-gender. Anyway, Michael experiences a lot of internal and external conflict concerning brace and sexuality and I just really enjoyed reading his journey.
Now I do have some criticisms of the novel. Since it covers the first 18 years of Michael’s life, the pacing of the novel is rather quick. I think that because the pacing was so quick a lot of details and moments that I would have like to have known more about were glossed over. A topic or character would be introduced, the context would be explained, and then the book would move on to the next thing. Another criticism I have is that there were some problematic things that I don’t think were entirely resolved. To start, I was concerned when Kieran, a young black student at Michael’s school, was in a fight and he was described as scary and intimidating. This might seem nit-picky but this is a real stereotype for black men and it has very real implications. I wish that was handled better. Also, Daisy, Michael’s best friend made some statements that alluded to her internalized racism, but that was never really addressed. I suppose you could make the argument that things like internalized racism/homophobia can’t be rectified overnight, but I wish Atta addressed this more head-on. Another criticism I have is that one character had an entire monologue where they said that refusing to date black men and only dating black men are both forms of racism because one is internalized racism and the other is fetishizing. However, this same character, who is black, still decided to date the girl who said that she only dates black guys. They don’t address her fetishizing black men and he seems to longer care that her dating preferences are problematic. Also, after Michael and that character (Lenny) gets kicked out of the club (basically for being black), that female character stays in at the club and abandons them. She’s clearly demonstrated that she’s a terrible ally and her relationships with black people are suspect but the author doesn’t dive deeper into this. She still ends up being one of Michael’s friends. I wasn’t very happy with that.
With all that said, while there are problematic aspects, I still really enjoyed the book! When I finished it I was a little sad because I wanted it to be longer and I just wanted to know more. I especially wanted to know what would happen between Michael and Kieran but I guess I’ll just have to use my imagination. *sigh* I just really loved this book and I might read it again and maybe even buy a hard copy. Even now when I’m writing this review I’m smiling wistfully about this book! ☺️ In short, I highly recommend it.