Welcome to Litsy!

Pros: Flawed characters. Tackles anti-trans bigotry within + outside the queer community. A WOC acknowledging her sexuality was A+. Cons: Characters arcs were abrupt, I wanted to know more about Pooja and Kiran esp. Mildly annoyed by the "brown person lusting after white dude" trope twice in the narrative. Overall, it's well-written, and handles subjects of religion, racism, queerness within the context of an immigrant story pretty well. #24in48

Entering hour 23 with Rahul Mehta and a much needed caffeine-boost. Morning from this side of the world, Littens! #24in48

Starting this after 10 pm, is this wise? We shall find out. #24in48

Best seat in the house tbh.

Even in its most intense moments this is a very quiet, cerebral book. The writing is lyrical and beautiful and gut-wrenching. It isn't what I expected from the summary; I mean, the plot is, but the way the narrative is structured is not. A queer story, yes, but also a family story, a cultural story, an immigrant story. A survivor story. I loved it so much.

I've been looking for years for a way to express this feeling. The notion that if given a choice people would never choose to be queer- it always made me sad. It reinforced to me that maybe being who I am is inherently wrong if nobody would choose it. But I can't imagine being any way else, and while there are times that it's difficult it does, as Kiran experiences, come with gifts.

The writing in this book is so beautiful. This passage makes me think of Queer as Folk and all the reasons Michael loved comics.

It's SO late, but I have a surprise day off tomorrow. So what the hell, time to start something new.

I've read many second-generation-American novels, but this didn't stand out in any unique way. It had the potential to be very good, but the character development stopped just shy of that potential. A trans character seems to be included as a conduit for micro-aggressions from the cis gay main character (and as a tool for his half-hearted self-exploration). MC does something "heroic" at the end, but it doesn't erase his problematic attitudes.