Ricky
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It's really well-written for the most part, but it's really about this guy who's going through a bit of a crisis and part of his downward spiral is joining a supposed gay men's support group that is actually a cult-like conversion therapy program with a shifty counselor. The premise itself is pretty engaging, but the guy gets way too into it and there's A LOT of Christian ramblings in this book. On the one hand I get it, I certainly found my spirituality after my sister died. But to choose this weird Christian cult... Girl, stop.
Aside from all of the crazed Christian ramblings, there's a lot here I enjoyed though. It takes place in Minneapolis in the early 1990s. Our protagonist is mad with grief after the death of his boyfriend. His life spirals out of control despite some good friendships and so forth. It doesn't help that someone keep vandalizing his home with threatening anti-gay graffiti or that some religious nut is trying to 86 the pro-tolerance agency where he is employed. It's not fully clear what drives him so deep into this weird cult. Maybe he's trying to symbolically repair the relationship he had with the super religious father who abandoned him in childhood? It's clear that after his father left, he had a pretty secular upbringing. Another thing I find myself thinking about is how dark the vibe was for gay people in the early 90s. I mean, I was just a kid, but it seemed like a pretty dark situation. Like the world was this constant firehouse of hate, directed at your face at pretty much all times. Plus the overwhelming specter of HIV and dissolution. Anyway, that's how it felt to me 5 hours east of Minneapolis. I understand wanting to run from that and ending up in a weird cult. Self-loathing was endemic then. I would have appreciated a bit more restraint though, in terms of the ex-gay ministry. It felt like a lot.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It's really well-written for the most part, but it's really about this guy who's going through a bit of a crisis and part of his downward spiral is joining a supposed gay men's support group that is actually a cult-like conversion therapy program with a shifty counselor. The premise itself is pretty engaging, but the guy gets way too into it and there's A LOT of Christian ramblings in this book. On the one hand I get it, I certainly found my spirituality after my sister died. But to choose this weird Christian cult... Girl, stop.
Aside from all of the crazed Christian ramblings, there's a lot here I enjoyed though. It takes place in Minneapolis in the early 1990s. Our protagonist is mad with grief after the death of his boyfriend. His life spirals out of control despite some good friendships and so forth. It doesn't help that someone keep vandalizing his home with threatening anti-gay graffiti or that some religious nut is trying to 86 the pro-tolerance agency where he is employed. It's not fully clear what drives him so deep into this weird cult. Maybe he's trying to symbolically repair the relationship he had with the super religious father who abandoned him in childhood? It's clear that after his father left, he had a pretty secular upbringing. Another thing I find myself thinking about is how dark the vibe was for gay people in the early 90s. I mean, I was just a kid, but it seemed like a pretty dark situation. Like the world was this constant firehouse of hate, directed at your face at pretty much all times. Plus the overwhelming specter of HIV and dissolution. Anyway, that's how it felt to me 5 hours east of Minneapolis. I understand wanting to run from that and ending up in a weird cult. Self-loathing was endemic then. I would have appreciated a bit more restraint though, in terms of the ex-gay ministry. It felt like a lot.