noemik_13's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was a great book that shows an honest, relatable, and realistic view of life as a queer person. 100% would recommend:)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Suicide attempt
addison_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Fantastic read!
Brave Face has a lot of trigger warnings, but I am so thankful to Shaun for telling his story. Although this book is about a young gay man, I feel teens, regardless of their sexuality, will find a piece of themselves here.
These are the books we need for young people to remind them they are not alone and to help them cope with all the emotions that come with growing up and learning to be comfortable in their own skin.
Brave Face has a lot of trigger warnings, but I am so thankful to Shaun for telling his story. Although this book is about a young gay man, I feel teens, regardless of their sexuality, will find a piece of themselves here.
These are the books we need for young people to remind them they are not alone and to help them cope with all the emotions that come with growing up and learning to be comfortable in their own skin.
mindoe's review against another edition
4.0
Put on a Brave Face. Thank you Shaun for sharing your story.
kazuesohma's review against another edition
5.0
This book is hard to read but it's nothing short of a revelation.
adambwriter's review against another edition
5.0
As Mary Poppins so aptly said, "practically perfect in every way."
More thoughts on the blog: https://roofbeamreader.com/2019/06/01/may-2019-in-review/
More thoughts on the blog: https://roofbeamreader.com/2019/06/01/may-2019-in-review/
pinteeth's review against another edition
5.0
So I've been reading Shaun David Hutchinson's books for years. I loved We Are The Ants, The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley, and The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, because as a lesbian its amazing to see my community repped and because his writing perfectly captures the pseudo-magic-kind-of-science that my brain is addicted to (it's Fucking Stellar and the poeticism captured is never too full of itself). His books can sometimes be hard to get through just because of the emotional challenges portrayed and the way that the reader is kept just one step away from knowing right up until the end of the book. That being said, this style of writing carries through from his fiction to his non-fiction. It was incredible to see how he was able to perfectly transition from the true nature of his adolescent fuck-ups in a behind-the-scenes fashion to seamless storytelling with him as the main character. It was like reading a directors commentary, except everything was true, and everything was heart wrenching. I read Brave Face in one day, straight through, laying on the floor of my room with zero regard to comfort or back health (a regret now) because I was so involved in the story. I was amazed by the way that he was able to write about his experience growing up and coming out and be able to illustrate the challenges of both without falling into the normal tropes of the genre. Though we grew up in Very different times, I was able to see the threads that pull the whole community together in his story while also recognizing that everybody's experience is radically different (and his pretty much sucked). He talks about how he has continued to grow, even now, and how no matter how hard you try sometimes your brain will never let go and you have to learn to live with that. This book was incredible, and I would recommend it to everyone willing to listen.
zquill's review against another edition
4.0
Despite the high rating, I wish I could have loved this book more. I think it’s vital that teens and young adults have honest and dark experiences on a page that reflect what may be going on in their lives, and I personally appreciated and identified with how Hutchinson struggled to see himself as “gay enough” when he didn’t fit the stereotypes he’d been fed by mass media. But the last two chapters . Overall, though, it fully delivered on being a memoir about coming to terms with one’s sexuality and depression, and in a style that I think would be appealing to teens as it captures the high stakes every social maneuver has at that age.
Spoiler
give a message that everything gets better when that runs contrary to everything the rest of the memoir built toward from the outset. If you want to show how things get better, it would be better to actually show how they get better rather than listing them off in a rush after pages of self-harm and -loathing. And the constant repetition of how Hutchinson viewed other gay men as effeminate and diseased is distressing and gets old and unnecessary quicklyreadingthestars's review against another edition
4.0
Shaun is one of my absolute favorite authors, and this read was so deep and insightful. It brought me to the edge of tears, and something about one person saying that you WILL be alright makes all the difference.