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popthebutterfly 's review for:
We Are Lost and Found
by Helene Dunbar
Disclaimer: I received this book at an event with @yatl. Thanks Vania! All opinions are my own.
Book: We Are Lost and Found
Author: Helene Dunbar
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Diversity: Gay male MCs
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: 16+ (sex, AIDs, language, and discovery)
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 304
Amazon Link
Synopsis: Michael is content to live in the shadow of his best friends, James, an enigmatic teen performance artist who everyone wants and no one can have and Becky, who calls things as she sees them, while doing all she can to protect those she loves. His brother, Connor, has already been kicked out of the house for being gay and laying low seems to be his only chance to avoid the same fate.
To pass the time before graduation, Michael hangs out at The Echo where he can dance and forget about his father's angry words, the pressures of school, and the looming threat of AIDS, a disease that everyone is talking about, but no one understands.
Then he meets Gabriel, a boy who actually sees him. A boy who, unlike seemingly everyone else in New York City, is interested in him and not James. And Michael has to decide what he's willing to risk to be himself.
Review: This was an amazingly well done and moving piece of art. The book was unapologetic in how it showed the grit and the glory of being gay in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDs epidemic. The book was well written and it was written very interestingly. The book is almost prose like and it forces you to read slowly and savor the novel.
The only downside is that I felt like there is a lot to unpack in the year that this takes place and that the book is wrote by a straight woman. While I am on the side of “you can write what you like as long as you have amazing sensitivity readers” I didn’t like how staying in the closet was likened to hiding and being cowardly and I didn’t like the slut shaming that happened. Sex is sex and you should do what you want with consenting parties and as long as you have the proper protection.
Verdict: Do what you can to make yourself happy.
Book: We Are Lost and Found
Author: Helene Dunbar
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Diversity: Gay male MCs
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: 16+ (sex, AIDs, language, and discovery)
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 304
Amazon Link
Synopsis: Michael is content to live in the shadow of his best friends, James, an enigmatic teen performance artist who everyone wants and no one can have and Becky, who calls things as she sees them, while doing all she can to protect those she loves. His brother, Connor, has already been kicked out of the house for being gay and laying low seems to be his only chance to avoid the same fate.
To pass the time before graduation, Michael hangs out at The Echo where he can dance and forget about his father's angry words, the pressures of school, and the looming threat of AIDS, a disease that everyone is talking about, but no one understands.
Then he meets Gabriel, a boy who actually sees him. A boy who, unlike seemingly everyone else in New York City, is interested in him and not James. And Michael has to decide what he's willing to risk to be himself.
Review: This was an amazingly well done and moving piece of art. The book was unapologetic in how it showed the grit and the glory of being gay in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDs epidemic. The book was well written and it was written very interestingly. The book is almost prose like and it forces you to read slowly and savor the novel.
The only downside is that I felt like there is a lot to unpack in the year that this takes place and that the book is wrote by a straight woman. While I am on the side of “you can write what you like as long as you have amazing sensitivity readers” I didn’t like how staying in the closet was likened to hiding and being cowardly and I didn’t like the slut shaming that happened. Sex is sex and you should do what you want with consenting parties and as long as you have the proper protection.
Verdict: Do what you can to make yourself happy.