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A review by puppypossum
Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love
2.0
An immediately relatable and human story of what it means to be and come out as gay, Arthur and Teddy started out strong and was a book I really wanted to love. However as the book reached around the half-way mark, specifically the Christmas Dinner, I just found that I was struggling to continue as it just felt like it was a suffering carousel.
My first sign of worry was when the granddad casually flagged that he tried to off himself in his twenties due to gay conversion therapy. While an immensely tender moment and a way for Teddy to think about how making a step like trying to make up with Ben was ultimately a small step, it was the first of several moments that just felt like a way of using the suffering of gay people as entertainment, with the death from suicide of minor character Sophie being incredibly shocking and personally triggering. While I do know that these events happen and have had friends in similar though less "successful" situations, it just feels like stuff like this never ends. I really wanted to like the book and I really truly loved the characters, but for gods sakes just give them a break. Let them have more victories, more up moments between all the downs. I know there are plenty, but a character's low moment doesn't need to be several low moments all in a row, and Teddy getting kicked out after coming out as gay, a few weeks after a woman he knew lost her life due to the pressures around being gay, by his mother who celebrated his article about said woman, just felt cruel.
Yet, I do acknowledge that life is indeed cruel, I just do not wish to read about endless personally relatable cruelties, of the similar experience of being a trans woman. I hope everyone who wants to read this book enjoys it, but I just lost of ability to do so myself.
My first sign of worry was when the granddad casually flagged that he tried to off himself in his twenties due to gay conversion therapy. While an immensely tender moment and a way for Teddy to think about how making a step like trying to make up with Ben was ultimately a small step, it was the first of several moments that just felt like a way of using the suffering of gay people as entertainment, with the death from suicide of minor character Sophie being incredibly shocking and personally triggering. While I do know that these events happen and have had friends in similar though less "successful" situations, it just feels like stuff like this never ends. I really wanted to like the book and I really truly loved the characters, but for gods sakes just give them a break. Let them have more victories, more up moments between all the downs. I know there are plenty, but a character's low moment doesn't need to be several low moments all in a row, and Teddy getting kicked out after coming out as gay, a few weeks after a woman he knew lost her life due to the pressures around being gay, by his mother who celebrated his article about said woman, just felt cruel.
Yet, I do acknowledge that life is indeed cruel, I just do not wish to read about endless personally relatable cruelties, of the similar experience of being a trans woman. I hope everyone who wants to read this book enjoys it, but I just lost of ability to do so myself.