The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
notthatcosta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Even though I am what Jeremy Atherton Lin describes as a 'cozy queer', I deeply appreciate his careful and thoughtful archiving of queer history through nightlife, adding to the canon from the likes of Alim Kheraj and Dan Glass.
As someone with a lot of interest in London's history and very little interest in America, I naturally gravitated more towards the chapters that focused on London nightlife.
While some sections felt a bit 'okay boomer but make it queer', I enjoyed the overall POV of the book, especially the elements that pondered the purpose of queer nightlife spaces and the complex relationship between gentrification and queerness both in the UK and the US.
As someone with a lot of interest in London's history and very little interest in America, I naturally gravitated more towards the chapters that focused on London nightlife.
While some sections felt a bit 'okay boomer but make it queer', I enjoyed the overall POV of the book, especially the elements that pondered the purpose of queer nightlife spaces and the complex relationship between gentrification and queerness both in the UK and the US.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism
jazhandz's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I have an admittedly bad habit of reading reviews before I read a book. As such I was surprised by how many reviews for Gay Bar were unhappy with the mixture of memoir and broader history. I am not a gay man but I identify as queer, and this book captures the essential connectedness of gayness. The bars he describes are snapshots of gay culture, and his experience is at once individual and intensely relatable. You can’t talk about the history of gay bars without talking about the people who go to them. You can’t talk about gay bars without talking about gay history. Sure, I would have preferred a different balance of the three, but you need all three.
As a whole I thought this book was lovely and honest and thoughtful, and full of so much love for the subject. Some parts of it resonates, other parts didn’t, and the author’s penchant for dropping in six-syllable words was a little annoying. But as a whole I hugely enjoyed reading this.
As a whole I thought this book was lovely and honest and thoughtful, and full of so much love for the subject. Some parts of it resonates, other parts didn’t, and the author’s penchant for dropping in six-syllable words was a little annoying. But as a whole I hugely enjoyed reading this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Hate crime
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Racism, and Homophobia
Minor: Islamophobia
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