caitsidhe's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
196books's review
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
Minor: Violence
nenaveenstra's review against another edition
I have tried reading this book before, and I gave up after a while - maybe even at the point I am now. Because, even though some phrases are quotes worth posting all over the internet, Amherst uses a lot of words for something he could've said in half the amount. I'm bored reading this - and maybe that's because, in my case, he is preaching to the choir. I agree with (almost) anything he says and I'm not learning anything new.
I'm really sad about it because I've been annotating like my life depends on it, and I do think this book has its place and might be very meaningful to others. But to me, it's like someone mansplaining my own experience, almost.
I'm really sad about it because I've been annotating like my life depends on it, and I do think this book has its place and might be very meaningful to others. But to me, it's like someone mansplaining my own experience, almost.
hayleyvem's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Death
zigg_'s review against another edition
3.0
I think my favorite part about this book was Amherst’s addresses to past loves. I connected with them even as my own experience has been vastly different. And I really appreciated what this book is saying, about group identity, about queerness, about so much internalized and external homophobia—I just got too bogged down in the back half to really love it, in the end.
billydoubledown's review against another edition
4.0
sociology and bisexuality! This book was a light read and I was drawn in by the narrator's voice and the author's interesting writing style.
libmeh's review against another edition
4.0
Amherst's brief text serves as a moderately useful, if limited, introduction to scholarly and political arguments about the nature and legitimacy of bisexual identify versus homosexual or gay identities. Amherst intersperses fragments of personal reflections on past romantic or sexual relationships and experiences among the theoretical discussions (including grieving reminiscences on a recently lost love). While this personal framing provides specificity, it is also limiting. For Amherst, sexuality is fluid, rather than fixed, and embraces possibilities rather than being defined by false dichotomies, yet he does not present a similarly complex discussion of gender as variable or fluid. Also, Amherst considers only briefly the health and social effects of bisexual erasure, that minority stress and rejection from both queer and straight communities result in severe health and social inequities for bi+ folks.
Side note: Amherst thankfully does not wade into the bi vs. pan label wars, which I personally find aggravating and see as destructive to our bi+ and queer communities.
Side note: Amherst thankfully does not wade into the bi vs. pan label wars, which I personally find aggravating and see as destructive to our bi+ and queer communities.
starnosedmole's review against another edition
5.0
This short book captures the pros and cons of labels, media and political action regarding bisexuality (and, more broadly, queerness). Amherst shines when addressing how problematic the reductionist nature of political messaging is, how it discourages complexity and fluidity. Highly recommended!