The prose was purple. The word ‘sup’ was overused. It redeemed itself marginally in the epilogue but not enough to save its star rating. Also I keep seeing this recommended as “sapphic” and it very much does not centre the sapphic storyline so I would call that a total reach.

The only book written by Leslie Feinberg that I haven’t read is their iconic novel ‘Stone Butch Blues’ which I think worked in my favour here because a lot of the reviews I’ve seen were sad that ‘Drag King Dreams’ didn’t live up to SBB, but I really enjoyed it! We meet the Jewish protagonist Max Rabinowitz in a post-9/11 Manhattan, early in the novel something significant happens that rocks his chosen family. We follow Max to work, to protests, and into some internet escapism in the early days of the internet. Max’s chosen family was so beautiful but I felt a creeping sense of sadness throughout the novel because I knew it wouldn’t end all sunshine and roses like they all deserved. Also contributing to my sadness was the fact this novel was published in 2006 and yet so many of the issues included in the writing are still painfully relevant today. Regardless, I enjoyed my time with Max and Max’s friends.