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A review by booksandbraids
Flamer by Mike Curato
5.0
This book came to my attention thanks to a book club discussion of the book “Gender Queer”. In that discussion we talked a lot about banned books. We have several librarians in the group and they mentioned that there would be a hearing to review “Flamer” because of complaints. The local controversy surrounding this book made me immediately request a copy from another library within the state so that I could see what the complaints were about.
This book was wonderful and should absolutely not be banned. This book NEEDS to exist in libraries to help kids like the protagonist who are struggling at that age.
There is one scene that I will admit shocked me a bit. Not so much for the explicitness of it but because it was something that I didn’t even realize that straight guys did and it was a bit shocking to realize that this is apparently a thing? Personally I think it’s a bit weird as a group activity? And the communal jar weirded me out a bit… Sorry to judge. But whatever- to each their own. If that is something that “bros” do together, who am I to judge. And if that is something that teenage guys do, and a scenario that a struggling queer teenage boy might encounter and consequently struggle with, it should be included in the book. Although if it really came down to it in order to appease the haters and keep the overall story on the shelves and accessible to those who would benefit from a story like this, I feel like that small section could be removed without altering the overall importance and message of the story.
This book was wonderful and should absolutely not be banned. This book NEEDS to exist in libraries to help kids like the protagonist who are struggling at that age.
There is one scene that I will admit shocked me a bit. Not so much for the explicitness of it but because it was something that I didn’t even realize that straight guys did and it was a bit shocking to realize that this is apparently a thing? Personally I think it’s a bit weird as a group activity? And the communal jar weirded me out a bit… Sorry to judge. But whatever- to each their own. If that is something that “bros” do together, who am I to judge. And if that is something that teenage guys do, and a scenario that a struggling queer teenage boy might encounter and consequently struggle with, it should be included in the book. Although if it really came down to it in order to appease the haters and keep the overall story on the shelves and accessible to those who would benefit from a story like this, I feel like that small section could be removed without altering the overall importance and message of the story.