ieemee's Reviews (360)

Excellent poetry collection that stays with you 

Two chosen ones & witches live in Vegas. Claire is a bad ass who is fighting for a place in a world that often doesn’t want or have space for her 

I liked it but this is definitely not set in starhollow , more set in a small conservative unfriendly town. FMC Phoebe , is strong cheeky and won’t compromise who she is to fit in.  Rocky, MC has don’t tough her vibes but only as a vibe. phoebe and Rocky reminded me of Jess and Rory from Gilmore girls the early years.
This book is all family drama all the time. Forbidden love which isn’t quite forbidden. Please check trigger warnings before reading. 

This book looks at the lives of queer people of all ages but skewed to older generations. The book looks at people’s individual stories and in the process covers trauma like AIDS pandemic and the impact it had on a generation of queer people. The shows the many different ways it means to be queer. I wish some of the interviews were extended and the book briefly touches on chronic illness and queerness. I would have loved for the book to explore more of this. The book looks at the intersectionality of queerness and race and statehood. The book looks at the beautiful and difficult moments people have faced around their queerness.

This book is a quirky literary historical fiction with a gay MC leading the way.
The story touches on historical events each about 8 years apart starting with the avalanche in Utah in 1926. 
The book is a compelling read I couldn’t  put it down.
History of the time period cover is heavy , it covers Aids pandemic and Mississippi & the klan. The author takes real moments in history of USA and places our mc at the heart of them.
I personally feel the writing shines the most in the historical moments like stonewall riots or the aids pandemic where our gay mc is the most impacted. The chapter civil rights feels awkward to have it told from a white perspective. I also wish the book showed our MC more impacted by the death of the African American children. However the MC is largely unaffected by most of the deaths in the book even his own mothers. The MC has a coldness which is covered with humour. 
The book is a good archive of queerness in a historical context. The book contains no homophobia from the Mc inner circle his sister and Bo. They simply say his sister was fine with it “once she got over the shock of a naked” man on mattress.

MC has many moments of love throughout the novel, even an a gap romance at one stage. 

The love between Mc and his twin sister is beautiful they both live this long life together with challenges and beauty. I cried towards the end of the novel because of how beautiful the love is between them.

The death of his sister Aggie and the things she writes in the notebook to him feels so authentic it’s not soppy it’s banter. I love this quote”Up until  the last few days —when she had enough morphine in her system to sedate an ox —her prose remained distinctive, cogent, opinionated, funny and infuriating “

The book looks at the year that make up a long life and all the historical events that happen along the way.
The ‘strange’ is not unusual but rather how werid life can be and how you end up in so many unexpected places through so much chance.
 I do think a lot of criticisms about the book is due to the lack of appropriate content warnings on the arc. This book is funny in a dark sense of humour way.