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A review by k_aldrich
God Says No by James Hannaham
2.0
Premise: devout, fat, black Christian man discovers he has homosexual desires and struggles fighting against them for basically the rest of his life.
This was a hard book to read and sad. It was sad because the main character (Gary Gray) had so many toxic internalizations that effected his life. He struggled with body image and negatively brought up his weight on the regular and he had very toxic attitudes towards homosexuality (which is the point of the book I know but that doesn’t make reading it easier). When he is in a program to affirm his love of Christ and working to not be gay he has “masculinity repair” sessions like group therapy. I think this is grounded in a reality and when I’m exposed to those moments of reality it pushes me away. I don’t want to read about someone learning toxic masculinity, but it does make sense for this story. Structurally this book felt too long. It almost has a stream of conscious feel to it (and those books aren’t my cup of tea).
While this is likely an important book, it was difficult to get through.
This was a hard book to read and sad. It was sad because the main character (Gary Gray) had so many toxic internalizations that effected his life. He struggled with body image and negatively brought up his weight on the regular and he had very toxic attitudes towards homosexuality (which is the point of the book I know but that doesn’t make reading it easier). When he is in a program to affirm his love of Christ and working to not be gay he has “masculinity repair” sessions like group therapy. I think this is grounded in a reality and when I’m exposed to those moments of reality it pushes me away. I don’t want to read about someone learning toxic masculinity, but it does make sense for this story. Structurally this book felt too long. It almost has a stream of conscious feel to it (and those books aren’t my cup of tea).
While this is likely an important book, it was difficult to get through.