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Boy Erased is a heart-wrenching memoir about nineteen year old Garrard Conley's experience after he is outed by his rapist in college to his Baptist parents and subsequently enrolled in a Southern Arkansas conversion therapy program called Love in Action where he is introduced to damaging methods and idealogy to "cure" him of his sexual orientation. How a parent could inflict this on their child is beyond me. (1/?)

Powerful and heartbreaking book. I must say, mother🥰

Heartbreaking

Goos read

This book was definitely very eye opening and hard to read at points. It‘s an important story that I think should be read, but I just really didn‘t love the writing. I had a hard time staying engaged with this one and definitely wish the author hadn‘t jumped around as much as he did with the timeline.

#LittenListen #Audioathon

Not an easy listen. I will never understand how a parent can choose religion over a child and not find that detrimental to the child‘s well-being, or not to care. It‘s very well written, and I was interested in the author‘s point of view. But if you pick this up be prepared to deal with some emotions.

#Arkansas #ReadTheStates

Looks like a tough read. If he had the courage to write it, we must have the courage to read it. As if God, if they exist, cares who we love. The idea is ridiculous to me. This is why I'm not a fan of organized religion. So many preach love, and yet don't live it in practice. #loveislove #tbrpile

Non fiction about a teenage boy, from a religious family, who gets sent to a anti-gay conversion program.

I add books all the time to my wishlist on Overdrive. By the time they become available usually I have forgotten why I added it, or what it was even about.
That was the case of this book!
I did like it. I haven't yet watched the movie - but from the trailers Nicole Kidman looks as though she did great in her role has Gerrard's mother.
Everyone has a story. What Garrard has had to go through to become the man he is today is staggering. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I knew I wouldn‘t like the subject matter, but I don‘t like the writing either! Just not engaging me. May come back to it....or not.

I wish I hadn't seen the movie before reading the book. I think I would have enjoyed the book more, felt more emotion while reading it, had I waited on the movie. Regardless of my reading preferences, my heart broke for Garrard and his experiences.

This was a really interesting look into the reality of religion versus sexuality. I wish he could have a happier ending; it will be interesting to see if he writes more.

The only time I can read with this little guy around is when he‘s napping!! Guess I better get to it!
#MackAttack #dogsoflitsy

Oh my goodness @AmyG what a box!! Thank you so much for everything 💜 Can‘t wait to start reading the books, and the treats are perfect!!

@BookishMarginalia #summersantagoespostal

Just watched his TEDtalk. It was great. If, like me, you read this book and wondered how on earth he was so close to his mother but she didn‘t notice he was gay, this will answer that question for you. He‘s also delightfully funny...and he even shows off the LIA handbook he STILL has (I think it‘s mostly to prove it really is as bad as he made it out to be). Here the link: https://youtu.be/JmCtZz-RztQ
#garrardconley #boyerased #TEDtalk

Wow. Just wow. This book is short but powerful. The things people will do to other people in an effort to force their beliefs on others is despicable. Books like this, situations like this, make me grateful that I have severed all ties with people who believe in madness like this.
Garrard is a strong and amazing man. He has more love in his little finger than I may ever have.
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

I know otherwise intelligent people who will never reach this point. They will never understand the world around them, they will never experience some of the amazing history of the world or science that explains it, because it‘s not biblical. I love these people and I feel sorry for them.
#garrardconley #boyerased #science #history #censorship

This madness damaged people, it damages families. Homosexuality has never damaged a single person or a single family who didn‘t hold the bigoted, hateful beliefs propagated by these camps. These should be outlawed in every and all civil societies. Period.
#garrardconley #boyerased #conversiontherapy #abuse #barbaric

I‘m sorry, no one is working for any kind of decent deity when they traffic in human suffering, personal hurt, and emotional scars. The mantra of “hurt people hurt people” is just an excuse to continue hurting people and to not take responsibility for the pain and suffering people cause other people.
#garrardconley #boyerased #hurtpeoplehurtpeople #totalcrap #excuses

I was happy to see that while his father was an ordained Baptist Missionary pastor, he didn‘t end his relationship with his only child after he left the madness of conversion therapy.
#garrardconley #boyerased #fathersandsons

This blows my mind. Until recently, and I‘m all too many cases still today, the Baptist Church supported slavery (when it was still legal in the US) and racism, but that is never acknowledged, it‘s never been repented of, at least half the time it still exists. Yet they want to claim to be the moral majority. The thing that confuses me the most is African American Baptists. How can they even bring themselves to participate in that BS?!

This is disheartening. How many men, how many boys, have been assaulted by this jerk, by “David” simply because no one was willing to speak up?
#garrardconkey #boyerased #disgusting

For a group of people who love to tout that “all things are possible with Jesus,” they sure do love writing people off who have even the slightest difference in world view.
#boyerased #garrardconley #humanityisnotanillness

Yes, because it‘s better to stay silent about pedophilia than to talk about sex or protect children. 🙄 These groups like to condemn Catholicism for the exact same thing. I guess they‘re just trying to redirect everyone‘s attention from their own perversions.
#garrardconley #boyerased #childabuse #stopchildabuse #protectthechildren

You mean like the belief system your torturing these people with?! FFS
I never heard of this kind of insanity until I moved to Texas. Even seemingly kind people believe that sometimes this sort of thing is necessary. I‘ve heard people say “Being gay isn‘t a sin in and of itself. You can‘t control that. Acting on it is a sin, so just don‘t act on it. Just be celebrate.” WTF
I‘m sorry but this mentality is totally twisted.
#garrardconley #boyerased

The idea that anyone can “pray away” their sexuality is ridiculous. Hell, they think more prayer will keep teenagers from having sex. That‘s why teen pregnancy is so much higher in these areas than in other areas where parents take a slightly more realistic approach.
#garrardconley #boyerased #humansexuality #conservative #headinthesand

Starting this now. I‘m in a much better place mentally than I was on Friday. I‘m hoping that holds out with the absolute BS I know this book is going to contain. I‘ve been waiting to read this book for a while. It‘s come in from the waitlist. I‘ve got my restart of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows on standby in case I need a break; otherwise that‘s next.
#boyerased #garrarsconley #conversioncamp #childabuse #spiritualabuse

This was my book club‘s February pick, and it yielded a great discussion. It‘s a powerful coming out memoir, dealing with themes of spiritual abuse, shame/guilt, and loss of faith. Conley‘s story is heartbreaking, and SO many times I wanted to shout at the people running the misguided & cruel conversion “therapy” he was subjected to. His faith was stolen from him due to “Christians” completely misrepresenting who God is. Continued... ⤵️

The back & forth jumps in the timeline were erratic & confusing ("Is he in college now or at LIA...oh wait, he's washing cars at his dad's lot.")...characters were indistinguishable..."Who is J again? Who is T? Who is S...oh yeah, peanut butter girl."
He was at LIA for 8 days, and only a small portion of the book is devoted to that time. The rest of the book felt overstuffed with angsty thoughts & flowery prose that called attention to itself.

This was very well-written and insightful but there was a HUGE disconnect for me with all of the religiosity. I probably should have been prepared given that he‘s the son of a pastor and the whole notion of “ex-gay therapy” is steeped in certain religious beliefs but I found it overwhelming. Also, I personally think “ex-gay therapy” is a crock of horse 💩so I feel like I went into it with a chip on my shoulder...👇🏼

Well to be honest I found this book to be sad...I did not agree with what the boy went through it was heartbreaking and harsh and for what? I don‘t want to spoil it for anyone. The book was well written but I did not agree with what went on. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield. It was such a magical story full of characters and romance and overall great storytelling. So magical it reminded me of Like Water for Chocolate or House of Spirits. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. My next book is Boy Erased..the movie is coming out soon with Nicole Kidman!

This one is getting read in dribs and drabs because it is heart-wrenching. But I thought this morning‘s sun said it best: Denying your authentic self for any reason is a prison.

Talked about conversion camps earlier in the week with a few people on here. All I can say is, “isn‘t karma a bitch?!” Is it wrong to laugh at this guy? He‘s tortured unknown numbers of people; now he‘s going to do exactly what he tortured those folks for doing. WTF?! I still feel like he needs to apologise to all the people he‘s tortured over the years first... but that‘s just me.
#conversioncamp #badparenting #wtf #lgbtq #karma

A memoir about the author being outed to his family, and subsequent time in conversion therapy, ie "pray the gay away therapy". Its awful & sad that this "treatment" still exists.

It has heart. Hopefully the movie also lives up to my expectations.

#gay #gayreads #nonfiction #religious #nonfiction #truestory

I would give the book 3 ⭐️. The format of flipping back and forth kept me confused. It would have been better, imho , to be told linearly. Beyond that, Religion will kill us all. You can quote me on that one. #praythegayaway #sickreligiouszealots

I am about halfway through and this “pray the gay” away stuff is just creepy. I feel so sorry for these people, with religion being shoved down their throats. What a horrible bunch of “Christians “. #disgusting #goodbook #wrong

Starting this as I want to see the movie. But, book first.

We were going to see the movies...but decided we wanted to read the books first. 😁

I needed to read the book before I could watch the movie, and I‘m glad I did.

I am going to finish this book, it‘s really good I‘ve just been too damn busy!! I‘m infuriated and sad that the reality is that so many people have been sent to conversion therapy to “fix” something that doesn‘t need fixing, and that some people honestly think that you can just pray away the gay.

⭐⭐⭐✨
I'm sad to say that this wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. It was very long and a lot of what was written, to me, didn't seem very relevant to the story. I also did not enjoy how it jumped around in time because the transitions weren't very smooth. A bit of a let down.

This book was such a punch to my soul. A heart breaking story of loving yourself and your family, and when those two are at total odds. Conley‘s experiences are horrifying and incredibly sad. Conley comes from a part of the US I do not know a lot about, and it was both fascinating and incredibly depressing to hear about his upbringing. Despite its intense subject matter I would definitely recommend this book.

Wow. Such a beautifully written book about a heartbreakingly painful topic. It‘s amazing.

I wanted to read this book before the movie came out and I have complete faith that Lucas Hedges is going to give a heartbreaking performance.

We have to be better than this. Conversion/ex-gay therapy needs to be a thing of the past— it should have never even been a thing at all.

This book was hard to read. The things that are done to young men and women in the name of a supposedly loving God are just ridiculous. My heart goes out to each person. I feel very happy that my home church has been accepting openly gay members at least as long as I‘ve been alive. Just the amount of self loathing and mind twisting the author experienced is heartbreaking. 4⭐️ #nonfiction2018

I came in from a 10 hour drive to two new library books on #Overdrive 🎉📚🎊 Now if I can keep my eyes open, I may start this one. 😉😴😴😴

A heartbreaking and unflinchingly honest look at ex-gay “therapy” and the toll it took on the author when he was forced to attend by his parents. #audiowalk

Beautiful weather for an #audiowalk