DNF - 26th April 2023, 111 pages. 
I am very sad that I didn’t love this one, I really thought I would. 
The first few chapters, those pertaining to the Aberfan disaster, were interesting and incredibly emotional. However, my interest wained as soon as I realised that that was probably it and that we weren’t going to be following William’s life after the event but leading up to it. 

Why was Aberfan included?

I found it really difficult to connect with or care about William as a child and was having to force myself to continue reading / not skim the pages. 
I am also fairly certain that I know the conflict between William and his mother - if I’m right, I have no interest in reading about it. 

It is only fair to acknowledge that I only made it about 25% and maybe things would have picked up but. Maybe I should give it more time. The trouble is that I don’t want to. I will leave this for the people who love it and declare that A Terrible Kindness and I are just not a match for book and reader - and that’s okay. 

Started on the 31st March, admitting defeat on the 22nd April. I was intending to read this and take notes as an academic exercise and for 47 pages I did. The trouble is that even those 47 pages, read over a 2-week period, were a slog. This is not what I was expecting. Instead it’s more of a reference book for Queer Theory. The graphic element didn’t really adds much - but does make it feel less intimidating - and instead take up value page space where more information would have been better. Dense whilst lacking substance. 
I’ve also seen some critiques that imply it could be problematic. I am not in a position to comment on those. 

Will be keeping this as an introduction/ reference text book but won’t be sitting down to read it from cover to cover anytime soon.