Bestiary is a dark, poetic saga of generational trauma and its escape hatches.
Poet K-Ming Chang's first novel may be one of the most challenging boo Bestiary is a dark, poetic saga of generational trauma and its escape hatches.
Poet K-Ming Chang's first novel may be one of the most challenging books I have had to review. The story combines fantasy with family, magic with mendacity. Told in differing perspectives of either grandmother, mother, or daughter, each chapter reveals the ways in which traumas experienced in "the homeland" (i.e. Taiwan) during the Chinese revolution are felt decades later by daughters of daughters. But also passed on is a fluid sexuality and a connection to nature: revealed through the daughter's own lesbian relationship and the connections each character has to animals.
Still, I am unsure how I feel about this book. Chang's storytelling is fantastic but I am just not convinced by the fantastical elements of the book. The main character has a tiger tail and this tail represents something but I cannot wrap my head around what. This book is not an easy read but at times it is satisfying. I guess you just need to read it and tell me what you think....more
The Thirty Names of Night is a magical, cross-generational tale of transition and migration.
The narrator of this book begins nameless, unsure of the The Thirty Names of Night is a magical, cross-generational tale of transition and migration.
The narrator of this book begins nameless, unsure of themself as they care for their ailing grandmother and mourns the death of their mother at the hands of an islamaphobic attack. Their mother, an ornithologist, has left her with an interest both in her Syrian past and in birds. Each chapter of this book oscillates between the present, where the narrator struggles with their own gender identity and place in the world, and the past where an artist, Laila Z, also a Syrian migrant in the 1930s, finds herself confronted with a mystical westward migrating bird. The narrator eventually becomes Nadir and transitions into his true self and a boy identity and Laila Z fades into history as the last remnants of Little Syria in Manhattan are about to be demolished by developers.
Capturing the beauty and complexity of Zeyn Joukhadar's incredible novel is hard. The book starts slow but once it picks up you'll be hooked. Though at times some of the discussions on race feel out of place and not integrated into the story, most of the book is seamless in its discussion of gender, immigration, gentrification, and transness. The Thirty Names of Night really is a special and beautiful tale: don't be discouraged by the beginning slowness of this book or you'll miss out on the incredible story that unfolds....more
Queer Legacies is a book important not for what it is but for what it will hopefully produce.
John D'Emilio is one of the preeminent queer histories: Queer Legacies is a book important not for what it is but for what it will hopefully produce.
John D'Emilio is one of the preeminent queer histories: he has spent decades writing on and discussing little known stories from the past. In Queer Legacies, John D'Emilio, a Chicago resident, dives deep into the Gerber/Hart archives, LGBTQ archives in Chicago, and takes readers on a road trip through the past. Each chapter in this collection is short and, for the most part, very shallow. What the book does well is display just how expansive and multifaceted queer activism has been in Chicago: from activist groups in nearly every religious denomination to bisexual and transgender groups, Chicago has a history of lively gay activism.
But where Queer Legacies fails is in its accounts of these organizations and moments. Each chapter - there are 33 - is only a few pages long and only discuss the papers found in the archive. D'Emilio doesn't do any interviews or additional research outside the archives, even though many of the people mentioned are almost certainly still alive. And this is why this book is important: though it says little, it builds a gate for future research into these fields by researchers who are interested in taking the time to actually get to know the subject matter and discuss it at length....more
These Violent Delights is a book that in so many words says so little.
Paul is a young prodigy and son of a former police officer, now dead as a resu These Violent Delights is a book that in so many words says so little.
Paul is a young prodigy and son of a former police officer, now dead as a result of suicide. In college at the age of 16, he meets Julian, an heir and Nietzsche fan, and they immediately fall in with one another. This friendship becomes romantic and it leads them down a dark path in which murder becomes the name of the game. As Paul strives to figure out if Julian truly loves him, and Julian acts out to guide Paul to his love, they find themselves in quandary and with no clear path out but to fall into each other.
Micah Nemerever writes a compelling story in These Violent Delights, but this story is hidden in an extremely overwritten book. The detail the writing encompasses is overbearing and makes the story seem slow and unmoving when in fact so much is happening. The constant detail, scene building, and character describing creates a book that is so bogged down in its own language that the characters and their stories get left behind. Paul and Julian are compelling characters, if only they weren't hidden behind so many words....more
"The opposite of nostalgia is truth," Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore writes in The Freezer Door, her powerful reflection on community and queerness and"The opposite of nostalgia is truth," Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore writes in The Freezer Door, her powerful reflection on community and queerness and the trauma that influences us all.
Mattilda came of age in the 90s, her queerness shaped by the death and activism of the AIDS crisis and the dance and music of rave culture. Finding herself caught between the various monikers used to describe the people in the LGBTQ+ community, she settles on "queer" and then spends many years trying to figure out how she can find the community she desires, the sex life that fulfulls her, and a sense of self that has reconciled with past traumas. Surrounded by a community of queers who constantly wax nostalgic for a bygone era (that never truly existed), these same queers can't follow through and love each other and participate in the community that is right in front of their faces (all because they are caught trying to recreate a 1970s community that never existed the way nostalgia has painted it for them.)
At times the book can be a bit too self-righteous - (I am glad she finally buys a cell phone by the end of the book) - but the commentary is incisive and important. Many pages of my copy of The Freezer Door are dog-earred so that I can return to them and reflect on the poignant comments she makes throughout the book. This will definitely be a book I'll be returning to, and it's one you should be reading ASAP....more
Hot Stew is a surprisingly poignant tale of class, gentrification, and the ways they structure society.
Precious is a sex worker from Nigeria who has Hot Stew is a surprisingly poignant tale of class, gentrification, and the ways they structure society.
Precious is a sex worker from Nigeria who has, for years, lived and worked out of London's SoHo. When Agatha, a young woman raised wealthy by a poor mother, becomes the landlord over Precious' property, she swiftly begins the process of forcing Precious and her fellow sex workers out of their lease. What follows is a tale of love (between classes), struggle (because of class), and death (from the weight of class oppression.) Each character in this tale stands in as a victim of gentrification and the mindless rush that is turning urban property into endless profit.
The writing in this one could use refinement but he characters are genuine and the story meaningful. Don't sleep on Fiona Mozley and her tact for lending words to the ignored....more
Darryl Bullock's The Velvet Mafia is a winding list of names of men who knew men who knew men who managed the Beatles.
Brian Epstein, Larry Parnes, aDarryl Bullock's The Velvet Mafia is a winding list of names of men who knew men who knew men who managed the Beatles.
Brian Epstein, Larry Parnes, and a slew of other gay men were the managers who made the Beatles and other British pop stars of the 60s who they were. Much as one would imagine, these men made the Rock N' Roll 60s as much as they made the men. Each one ran afoul of money troubles, drug addictions, and fame they just couldn't grasp for long.
Unfortunately to truly enjoy this book readers will already need to have a detailed and microcosmic knowledge of the 60s British music scene. Bullock introduces lists of names of people and in many cases describes and details people only on the basis of who they knew. This makes the book incomprehensible in some parts and a true slog in others. As much as I love cultural history and queer history, this one just strayed too far from the path....more
We Play Ourselves is Jen Silverman's tale of failure, oddity, and absurdity.
Cass was rising star in the theater world, watching the production of he We Play Ourselves is Jen Silverman's tale of failure, oddity, and absurdity.
Cass was rising star in the theater world, watching the production of her first Off-Broadway play, the result of an impressive award for young playwrights. But as she slowly realizes that success is more elusive than she had expected, she finds herself devolving into an obsessive, lost person. Making her way to LA - to live with her friend alongside his dysfunctional relationship - she finds herself making a movie, yet another reminder that successful people are better at sugarcoating the world. Always on the brink of success but somehow always falling back into failure, Cass never finds the right combination, eventually realizing that its okay to be grotesque, a "failure."
We Play Ourselves is weird. Very weird. But the story is charming and the characters, absurd as they are, are endearing. But the book falters at the end. Instead of embracing the absurdity of it all, the story becomes more mainstream - encouraging in a way that seems removed from the rest of the book. Nonetheless, its a story that is fun to read, even if the ending is too normal....more
In John Giorno's Great Demon Kings I find a kindred spirit: a man who finds himself constantly drawn to the fame of others, learning as he goes alonIn John Giorno's Great Demon Kings I find a kindred spirit: a man who finds himself constantly drawn to the fame of others, learning as he goes along.
Giorno's life story is a tapestry woven through the deeply emotional, romantic relationships he had with the great men around him: Andy Warhol, Bob Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Tibetan lamas, and, most importantly, William Burroughs. Giorno spent time loving and making love with each one and through these relationships came to a deeper understanding of himself and his work: reaching enlightenment. Great Demon Kings is Giorno's memoir of his life demolishing poetry and reconciling the ways it can bring us to new sensory experiences. It's odd then that as sensual and committed to sensation as Giorno was when he lived, that upon his death he had found enlightenment beyond sensuality.
In many ways, Great Demon Kings is just another memoir about 60s and 70s New York by an artist renowned for his art, but in other ways its a story about the demons that populate our lives and learning to love them and eventually let them go....more
100 Boyfriends is a fast-paced, gut-punch take on navigating gay relationships while grounding yourself in the process.
Brontez Purnell's classic pun 100 Boyfriends is a fast-paced, gut-punch take on navigating gay relationships while grounding yourself in the process.
Brontez Purnell's classic punk style is evident from the moment you open his latest book. Each short chapter is an introduction to another sexual escapade, as the narrator meets a man, they have sex, and other things happen. While it's unclear just who the narrator is, this detail is unimportant because the point of the book is to satirize gay men and their sex, while also celebrating the fact that we get to have so much of it.
Purnell's 100 Boyfriends is as hard to describe as it is to pin down. A memoir-fiction-erotica mashup, there isn't another recently published book quite like it. I read it in a day, and I recommend you do the same....more
Hola Papi is a surprisingly successful memoir-meets-advice-column that taps into the heart of queer millennialism.
John Paul Brammer is a writer who Hola Papi is a surprisingly successful memoir-meets-advice-column that taps into the heart of queer millennialism.
John Paul Brammer is a writer who has found much success writing for a variety of online and print forums, tapping into his past experiences growing up queer and Mexican in rural Oklahoma to tell stories that resonates with his readers. This book, Hola Papi builds on his well-known advice column by the same name. In this way, Brammer uses questions from readers to dig deep into his life and tell stories about being bullied in middle school and having that middle school bully later reach out on Grindr. About experiences of sexual assault that can't be named until the world has shifted and given him the language to talk about it. And about experiences of learning how to be, dress, and act gay, only to eventually realize that such educational opportunities are far too nuanced to be easily learned and adhered to.
Admittedly, I approached Hola Papi with trepidation: too many times straight-from-Twitter gay writers make their first book a memoir, and that memoir fails both because it is poorly written and because their stories are just not that interesting. But that is not the case with Brammer's writing. His stories are compelling and moving and his writing is firm and insightful. Though at times his writing slips into the world of Twitter humor - a voice that is just not right for long-form storytelling - for the most part Hola Papi is a moving memoir that you should most certainly read....more
Jonathan Parks-Ramage's Yes, Daddy is a pulpy, dark tale of the effects of trauma, sexual abuse, and sexuality.
Jonah is a young, gay man who recentlJonathan Parks-Ramage's Yes, Daddy is a pulpy, dark tale of the effects of trauma, sexual abuse, and sexuality.
Jonah is a young, gay man who recently escaped the Midwest, and his parents evangelical beliefs, after a haunting encounter with conversion therapy. In New York City, broke and estranged from his family, he works to meet Richard Shriver, a wealthy playwright who Jonah believes will give him the connections he needs to make his own name as a playwright. But Richard - and his friends - have a dark side and is able to exploit Jonah's past trauma to inflict more and more trauma on Jonah. When Jonah is faced with protecting the one person who understands his trauma - Mace - he fails and what ensues is nothing short of a catastrophe.
Park-Ramage's story is unique and is a necessary tale of the how the religious traumas inflicted on queer youth can be lasting and snowball into more trauma and abuse. But the book does too much - there are too many instances of additional abuse - several that were unnecessary (such as an encounter with a New Age church that seems unnecessary to the broader plot). But the most serious issue is that the engine of the book is the relationship between Jonah and Mace: the book is told in first-person perspective as Jonah talking/writing to Mace. But the relationship between the two is never really flushed out: besides one line exchanged between the two it just isn't clear why Jonah care so much about Mace.
Either way: Yes, Daddy is a novel and dark tale and I read it in a day. Definitely don't skip out on this debut novel....more
P.J. Vernon does not disappoint in Bath Haus, a well-written queer thriller filled to the brim with suspense and surprise.
Oliver is a former addict whP.J. Vernon does not disappoint in Bath Haus, a well-written queer thriller filled to the brim with suspense and surprise.
Oliver is a former addict who after only a few days sober meets Nathan, a wealthy WASP of a surgeon who takes Oliver in. After 5 years together, Oliver finds himself being drawn to explore sex with other people. But as he begins to explore new sexual encounters he meets someone with a penchant for violence who turns Oliver's life into a living hell. Oliver struggles with the potential for relapse, his own self-worth, and the meaning of love as he tries to navigate the violence that has entered his life through a bath house door.
I truly believed Bath Haus was going to be another over-hyped gay book by a major press. But I was so wrong. Vernon's writing is strong (though it can border on cheesy in a few spots). And his ability to craft and maintain suspense is incredible. Each page of this book brings new surprises and takes you to places you honestly could not have predicted. Even when you think you have figured out the puzzle, Vernon throws in another wrench to complicate your own thinking. And that is exactly what makes Bath Haus such a strong thriller; one I hope you enjoy as much as I did....more
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