lucyob's review
things I liked:
- the writing style! It felt fun and like I was having a conversation with the author without feeling juvenile
- general subject matter. I think this book and books like it are pretty important and should be read by a lot more people
- the choices of people. I thought that the author chose the right subjects in this book. there was a good mix of people who were known to be queer and likely unknown by a lot of the general public and very famous people that most people don’t know were queer. (edit: but I do wish it was more diverse. basically every example is from europe or america. the only exception I remember is one from mexico. queer people also existed in africa and asia and other parts of latin america, and although the documentation going back pre or even during colonialism is usually spotty at best, I wish there had been a wider net cast.)
thing I didn’t like:
- the way each chapter worked. although I did like each chapter being pretty short, I wish there had been more information. mainly I wish there was more about the impact these people had aside from being queer. one chapter I thought did this well was the Harvey Milk chapter, but the impact he had was also primarily intertwined with the fact that he was gay. it didn’t ruin the book for me by any standard, but I think it would’ve improved it.
- the writing style! It felt fun and like I was having a conversation with the author without feeling juvenile
- general subject matter. I think this book and books like it are pretty important and should be read by a lot more people
- the choices of people. I thought that the author chose the right subjects in this book. there was a good mix of people who were known to be queer and likely unknown by a lot of the general public and very famous people that most people don’t know were queer. (edit: but I do wish it was more diverse. basically every example is from europe or america. the only exception I remember is one from mexico. queer people also existed in africa and asia and other parts of latin america, and although the documentation going back pre or even during colonialism is usually spotty at best, I wish there had been a wider net cast.)
thing I didn’t like:
- the way each chapter worked. although I did like each chapter being pretty short, I wish there had been more information. mainly I wish there was more about the impact these people had aside from being queer. one chapter I thought did this well was the Harvey Milk chapter, but the impact he had was also primarily intertwined with the fact that he was gay. it didn’t ruin the book for me by any standard, but I think it would’ve improved it.
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