lilylikesbooks's review
3.0
Started strong, but bored by the end. Strongest parts to me were actually about illness, not queerness
kstookley's review
3.0
Another genre-bending queer memoir. In this one, the author records her research of Carson McCullers (and, in particular, her overlooked queer identity and chronic illness) to reflect on her own life and queerness. This book makes use of the many staples of the genre, like an abundance of quotes from Maggie Nelson and Eileen Myles. It is a mostly chronological book, with the start of Shapland's research matching the beginnings of McCullers' life. While there is nothing wrong with the subject matter, it at times feels juvenile and self-indulgent. I very much understand the author's impulse to compare herself to McCullers, especially early in throes of understanding and accepting her own identity. However, the scope of the book, narrowly defined in comparisons between the lives of these two women, rarely invites the reader or larger society in (at least not to the extent that I would appreciate). More than anything, this feels like a particularly well-done vanity project.