A review by dizzymissliz
The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

What an incredibly depressing book. Even though gay culture has so many highs and a beautiful, rich, history, it's easy to forget how dark and lonely it was for our community in the 1980's. This book describes this period in explicit detail. Even though it was hard to read and extremely sad, I think it's important to reflect on this time period. This book focused more on the relationships between trans/gay entertainers and their found family rather than ball culture, but I think that that's what made it special. There really is a familial love between these characters, heavily influenced by and named after the people in Paris is Burning. 
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