More memoir than mystery. 

Parks has a great writing style and she uses a mystery into the past to accept/discover her own identity and make peace with it. 

I’d you liked Educated, this story of a young queer journalist trying to find information on a woman who lived as a man while also remembering and recounting some of her trauma might be for you. Being poor, queer, and small town southern with a parent who at times seems to enjoy a substance more than their family felt too familiar and left me like “ok and…” I know that’s not fair to the author and speaks more about me. It’s how I felt though. 

There are avenues I wished she had explained in her own life that left me with more questions, particularly around her dad and brother. 

The mystery of understanding Roy is the highlight of the book. It made me wish this was a couple chapters shorter. Some of the memories of her mother didn’t seem to fit the overall motive of the book. 

Overall though, a solid read and I’m glad she put it out. People need to realize that we’ve been in the south, that we’ll continue to be there, and that their stories need to be told as well,