JAN.2024
There’s a new format for this year - every month, you’ll receive a varying number of recommendations from me, from one to multiple. Drop a comment below if you’d like to see anything else added to the format. Hope you enjoy!~
Recommendations
Blackouts
by Justin Torres
Blackouts by Justin Torres was a dizzying novel of tales-within-tales, poems, photographs, and much more. Although challenging to follow, I enjoy the way Justin Torres weaves beauty into the loneliness, pain, and joy of the queer experience—the bulk of the novel centers on a conversation between two male gay characters of differing ages. Juan Gay is the senior to our unnamed narrator, affectionately named Nene, by Juan.
Torres transports readers to different eras through these conversations, evoking a sense of timelessness. From the early 1930s to mid 90’s, Torres threads layers of forgotten queer culture, laying the cloth for us to interact and explore our lost histories. I found myself constantly returning to my search bar and being astounded how much of these individuals are real, and then quickly saddened.
For a complete immersion into this multifaceted narrative, experiencing the audiobook alongside the text is highly recommended. The book is an artifact of this conversation, so not having this key piece would leave you at a loss. That being said, the production between the three narrators (Ozzie Rodriguez, Torian Brackett, and author Justin Torres) provided the emotional resonance of the words that might be lost in the text. It helped to navigate the conversation on the page.
"Blackouts" emerges as a novel for me at a time of yearning for stories that expand my notions of what a book can be. It's the kind of book that delves so profoundly that you sense a second reading would unveil even more insights.
“Well, you'll have to trust me. Anyway, the point, I suppose, is that, for me, Sex Variants contains the testimonies of the righteous, forty men and forty women who might save us all from the hellfires; perverts, presented in all their glory.”
― Justin Torres, Blackouts
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
As a creative, reader, and gamer, this book makes me feel seen on so many levels. The novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin follows the lifelong friendship of two video game designers from childhood to adulthood.
A recent pattern I have uncovered is that when I'm not too fond of a novel's characters or their choices, that inevitably means I'm in for a rewarding read. Zevin creates beautifully flawed characters that fit together like a Japanese wooden puzzle box (Kumiki puzzles). As each Kumiki puzzle has a "key" piece that must be found and cleverly disassembled, so must we unravel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
As a long-time lover of puzzles and games, the references to industry creatives enriched the novel. Zevin was the perfect fit to tell this story. However, while rooted in the gaming world, the novel transcends its niche; Zevin skillfully traverses themes of sexism, disability and pain, and loss and grief with such a tender voice. And ultimately, it depicts one of the most verdant love stories I have ever read. They show us that great love doesn't always mean romantic love. Both readers of love stories and gamers will enjoy it.
“The most important thing is finding someone you wish to play with.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
