A review by bookswithsoumi
Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore

medium-paced

5.0

Love Gatsby? In the mood for a retelling with more LGBTQ+ and Latinx representation? You’re in luck, because Anna- Marie McLemore, winner of the Stonewall Award for books on the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience,  has given us “Self-Made Boys,” a “remix” in which Gatsby and Nick are gay and trans, and Nick and Daisy are Latinx! Thank God I wasn’t the only one who thought that Nick was low-key in love with Gatsby when I read the book in high school. I always wanted a story with this “alternate ending.” That being said, this is not the Leonardo DiCaprio “Gatsby” that graced our screens a decade ago. The characters feel less one-dimensional than they did in the original. Daisy’s motivation is especially fleshed out and is no longer the “beautiful fool” we expect her to be. Nick is less of an unreliable narrator and more of a man in love! Tom, however, is still our villain, but somehow gets more villainous in this story! 

Self Made Boys offers a slow-burn gay romance that is more nuanced than original. But then again, the original was a societal critique rather than a modern day romance. This retelling is engaging because there are enough changes to the plot that keeps it fresh. Despite reading the book and watching the movie obsessively, I still did not know what to expect from Jay, Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Tom. While I did give the book 5 stars, I think Self Made Boys misses out on the criticism of classism and Gatsby’s obsession with the past that made it such a good book to teach in English class. Instead, the book spends more time addressing transphobia, homophobia, and racism, none of which even have a chance to be addressed in the original! 

As a person who strives to be a better ally,, it was interesting to imagine how LGBTQ characters may survive in the ‘20s. I learned about lavender marriages (2 seemingly hetero couples that are actually gay men and lesbians marrying for appearance) and side lacers (hetero women used to wear them to flatten their chests to achieve of the androdynous flapper look as did trans men).

Thank you to NetGalley for exposing me to this book and for a eARC in exchange of an honest review.