Recent Reding: Blackouts by Justin Torres

 

 

I'm glad I read this book. It calls to mind several textual experiences that have been meaningful to me: the found manuscript (Borges, Umberto Eco), storytelling as distraction from horror (Kiss of the Spiderwoman). But, somehow, the novel left me cold. 

There have been other books about the queer experience that had much more emotional resonance for me: 

• Second Dad Summer by Benjamin Klass (middle grade novel)
• Let the Record Show: A political history of Act Up, New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman 
• Memorial by Bryan Washington
• David Sedaris
• The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr 
• Real Life by Brandon Taylor
• Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters