If you've been looking for a wholly honest, original, & raw LGBTQIA+ story, look no further than Joshua Whitehead's Jonny Appleseed. I decided to listen to the audiobook for this & am so glad I did - it was narrated by Joshua, himself, & I loved hearing this story from his own voice.

While the overarching story is Jonny returning home for his stepfather's funeral, it's mostly filled with memories of Jonny's past growing up NDN & queer on the reservation. I really enjoyed the honesty here - something that really stood out to me was Jonny's comments on how there are certain things within gay culture that are inherently in conflict with aspects of the NDN community, an example being the use of the word "bear" & how it applies within both groups. I also enjoyed the look into what it was like growing up gay on the reservation - we saw a lot of layers, particularly through Tias, Jonny's best friend & first love, & Tias' father, the literal definition of toxic masculinity. Something that really resonated with me was when Jonny says home is a feeling, & while not always comfortable, it's still home. The novel was very stream of consciousness & I'll admit, I did wander a bit here & there - but overall, I learned a lot & was grateful to be reading from a POV that's not represented nearly enough, particularly within the queer community.

All in all, I think this is a really important perspective & I'd highly encourage everyone to go pick up a copy! I'm really looking forward to seeing what Joshua does next!