Reviews with content warning for Child death - My Government Means to Kill Me

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

20 reviews

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Review:

I normally resent fiction books that try to give me a history lesson (I’d much rather read a nonfiction book for that sort of thing, thank you very much), but I make an enthusiastic exception for My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the informative passages and footnotes on American history make sense within the conceit of the novel, which is that of a retrospective memoir written by a Black queer elder about his life as a gay man in New York City during the AIDS crisis. The second is that this history Newson interweaves these historical facts within a riveting story. My Government Means to Kill Me is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story, a political thriller, a queer history lesson, a mediation on political activism, and a devastating yet empowering portrait of the queer community during the AIDS epidemic, all incorporated seamlessly into a narrative of less than three hundred pages. I’ve never read anything quite like it.

Newson juggles so many elements (and makes it look easy) in large part due to his excellent characterization. His main character, Trey Singleton, has a singular voice. Trey has flaws and personal struggles, but his strong moral compass, adaptability, and ability to make connections with strangers make him an extraordinarily likable main character. Besides Trey, the book is peppered with an array of colorful side characters, many of whom are so vividly described that I felt like I knew them. Through these characters, Newson makes history come alive: I felt simultaneously ineffable sorrow for the tragedy and malice that the queer community faced during the AIDS epidemic and immense admiration for those who resisted the attacks on their lives and their community. I could have read hundreds of more pages of My Government Means to Kill Me; Newson leaves a lot of aspects of Trey’s life open at the end of the book. I can’t complain, however, because I think that he ends the book at the exact right place for Trey’s coming-of-age story.

Alas, I don’t think my review quite captures the brilliance of this book. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like My Government Means to Kill Me if . . .

· You are interested in a heartfelt and informative look into the AIDS crisis from the perspective of a young Black gay man living in New York City

· You appreciate a well-written main character who learns a lot and grows as a person throughout the novel

· You like to read books that balance tones of hope, tragedy, humor, adventure, and relatability

You might not like My Government Means to Kill Me if . . .

· You want to avoid mentions or depictions of sex

· You don’t like books that incorporate fictionalized versions of real historical figures

· You like a book that wraps up all loose ends

A Similar Book:

The Chinese Groove by Kathryn Ma. Similarities include:

· A young main character who moves to a new place and assumes that this whole “life” thing will be a breeze, and subsequently experiences a lot of character growth

· A unique and likable main character who uses their perceptiveness and pluck to make a positive difference in people’s lives

· Strained familial relationships

· Colorful side-characters

· A good mix of humor, heart, heaviness, and hard truths, with a tiny dash of thriller in the mix

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jkamler's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

mattyvreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Enthralling, heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and raw. I loved this book from start to finish. One of my favorite books I have read this year.

Plus there are really sexy parts. I cannot tell a lie.

Content Warnings

notcharlottete's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

jdianm's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Halfway through this book, I wondered how I’ve made it this far without reading a protagonist like Trey before. I want more! Through the story, I felt like I was right with him and it was where I wanted to be.

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dustghosts's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A really interesting take on the fictional memoir, with all the best structural and pacing qualities of a contemporary novel. The narrator, Trey, is charming and likeable— but also messy and often wrong (which, fair, because he is a rotten youth). This is historical fiction that educates not just on a key portion of LGBTQ+ history in the US but also feels pertinent to social movements and activism of today. Newson paints a scene beautifully— I can picture the movie that this book would make (and he is a screenwriter, so that makes sense!). At times tempting to think that some of the perspectives feel a little outdated— but I think some of that is the point, and Trey is very actively growing before our eyes, anyway.

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thepermageek's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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drraytay's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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onemorepagecrew's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I fell hard for the debut novel My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson. I went into the book not knowing more than the description and I was quickly engrossed in the story of Trey.

The coming-of-age book takes place in 1980s New York City where a young gay Black man, Trey, has recently arrived. He left his wealthy family in the Midwest to pursue the life he wanted and quickly immersed himself in the NYC social scene. I absolutely loved the flow of the book and how we saw Trey focus on his social life first, enjoying being a young person in a new city.

As he became more connected to people in his social circle, he couldn’t ignore the brutal impacts of AIDS on the queer community. From there the story expands to include gay rights activism, intersectionality with the civil rights movement, and reconciling with his past family traumas. Trey remains a young person having a fun time, but he is also maturing and standing up for what he believes in. It’s a well-done transition in writing that mirrors the way the character is expanding – I loved it.

I loved Trey’s self-awareness and the bold bravery that he repeatedly showed. The book hit such a great balance between showing the seriousness of the social and political crisis while never taking away from Trey’s inner positivity. I’m partial to coming-of-age stories and this “personal and political awakening” journey was top notch, with a dash of famous cameos that added to the intrigue.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for the advanced copy in exchange for my review – I devoured the audio book in <2 days and loved it. This book is available on August 23 and can be pre-ordered now.

Content warnings: Homophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Racism, Drug use

Content Warnings

moreadsnrambles's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was very interesting and enjoyable to read! I loved the way the main character’s life was explored and depicted through his sort of past tense narration. I also really enjoyed the way the fictional aspects of the main character were mixed in with historical figures and movements. The book was profound at times with a few brief moments of comedy and a sense of queer-coming-of-age. As a Black queer person it was definitely both touching and disappointing to read different actions and responses on the part of different characters, and entities in the book(like the government and police) that are still true and poignant to today. All in all a wonderful read and a fantastic debut from Rasheed Newson.

Thanks to Rasheed Newson and Flat Iron Books for the ARC and the chance to review the book!!

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