Scan barcode
iamzeked's review against another edition
4.0
Took my time reading this one, either only on the train or while at the park.
Such a great read. It’s dense and packed full of references and quotes and names and places. But not in a bad way. Just a ton of info about a ton of places and times and eras.
It’s so cool to be able to read about queer history and queer places through the lens of this queer couples experience passing through, attending, and returning to them.
I’m very excited to have this 20 pages of “notes” at the end citing each reference to song, article, book, movie, and review.
The ever evolving meaning and need for queer spaces is beautifully and intellectually put by Jeremy Atherton Lin.
Such a great read. It’s dense and packed full of references and quotes and names and places. But not in a bad way. Just a ton of info about a ton of places and times and eras.
It’s so cool to be able to read about queer history and queer places through the lens of this queer couples experience passing through, attending, and returning to them.
I’m very excited to have this 20 pages of “notes” at the end citing each reference to song, article, book, movie, and review.
The ever evolving meaning and need for queer spaces is beautifully and intellectually put by Jeremy Atherton Lin.
bebex3's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.75
ok yeah lets bring back grimy gay bars. i want a gay spoons
cellism's review against another edition
5.0
This exploration of the history of gay bars and the author’s personal relationship with them was incredibly insightful and effective. The first chapter is also one of the best thing’s I’ve ever read on the queer experience.
(The author is also very cute and I kinda wish I was a Brockley twink.)
(The author is also very cute and I kinda wish I was a Brockley twink.)
ohyouread's review against another edition
3.0
So this was a big throwback... I lived through 90’s and New Millenia Gay Bars, so I remember a lot of the pop culture and music references. That I thoroughly appreciated, but overall I wasn’t as excited to finish this book as I’d hoped.
I loved the History. Give me a historical view of Gay Culture any day, which is what I was assuming Gay Bar was meant to be... I just didn’t find it that exciting.
I wanted to love it. ☹️ I just didn’t.
I loved the History. Give me a historical view of Gay Culture any day, which is what I was assuming Gay Bar was meant to be... I just didn’t find it that exciting.
I wanted to love it. ☹️ I just didn’t.
jaclyncrupi's review against another edition
4.0
Part memoir, part cultural history, part queering the archives project, Gay Bar is a fascinating deep dive into the role and place of the gay bar through history. Spanning LA, London and San Francisco, Lin inhabits these queer spaces and interrogates their function and even, brilliantly, who they excluded. There is so much joy (and occasionally a tinge of melancholy) in his descriptions of some of the more salacious experiences he has had in gay bars. His exploration of gentrification, the AIDS crisis and race/class in the queer community is revealing. I love gaining bookish access to clubs I couldn’t actually be a member of. That said I feel this book was written for queer people, as it should be. There is a shorthand straight people need to decipher and I am more than happy to do that work