Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Autoboyography

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

88 reviews

24carrotgay's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this was an unexpectedly rough one. i should have put together that queer + mormon wouldn’t be all sunshine and rainbows (pun intended), but i did not. i went into this book expecting lightheartedness, which there was sometimes, but i found myself shaking with rage and on the brink of sobbing at the realness of this story. it hurt.

our boys got their happy ending, but i feel unsatisfied that we didn’t hear sebastian’s conversation with his parents.

regarding the narration, it was off-putting to me because it felt (a) robotic (b) too old for tanner and (c) out of character for tanner. overall though, this book was hard to put down. it’ll take me a bit to recover from all this emotion

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1_800_fuck_off's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ooohhh! where do i begin???

i deeply related to the religious aspect of this story. i was triggered by things that were discussed and it ripped my heart to shreds. i definitely had to take a few breaks to cry a bit and just take a breather. i feel a bit drained writing this right after i finished the book so i might come back later to revise this review but for now i’ll just say what i’m feeling at the moment.

i identified myself with sebastian so much, particularly about his struggle with his family and where he stood in the eyes of God. i also related with tanner in having a supportive family because, fortunately and unfortunately, i have both the really religious dad and the super supportive mom and they’re divorced so they have shown me two prominent paths of life. and unfortunately i’m also a bit of a people pleaser especially when it comes to my family so when your parents have two very differing ways of life they want you to live…well let’s just say that’s something i’m still struggling with. this book really felt like it took my soul apart and put it back together in the form of a book for all to see. i felt understood but it also made me feel vulnerable which made me feel what i struggle to suppress everyday so i’m not sure how i feel about that yet. many feelings, ew, lol.

for a good chunk of the story i believed this would be a five star read until that part where

tanner sleeps with autumn.

it jarred me to the point that it almost made me dnf the book. it completely disconnected me from tanner’s character and made me question why that was written in. i know it’s a real thing that happens and stuff but it’s just one of those things that i can’t comprehend and one of those actions i can’t bring myself to dismiss and move on about. so that affected my emotional investment from that point on. i didn’t feel as strongly as before and read on in a sort of detached state for the rest of the book. i no longer cried or felt much of anything for what happened. there were still things i related to, especially on sebastian’s pov chapters, but it’s like my heart closed itself off and didn’t allow me to feel it much anymore. maybe some sort of coping mechanism lol.

overall, i did really like the book, though, and i would recommend it. especially to queer kids struggling with religious expectations from their family. i see you, i feel you, i hear you. i hope you find some solace in these pages. i hope they make you feel seen and understood. you are not alone, you lovely soul. may life be kinder to you every day.

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rhythmofryn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

OKAY LOOK. I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m also bisexual. If anyone was going to be able to unpack this book, I dare say, it’s me.

Things that I liked:
-Tanner’s parents. Their support was so wholesome and kind an realistic and I appreciated it deeply.
-lack of biphobia. We LOVE to see it. Tanner is bi and sees no issue in that and never has a crisis about liking people of any gender. Lack of negative stereotypes 🥳 💖💜💙
-the lack of demonizing the Church and its members. I was SCARED going into this because I thought it’d be a soapbox for the authors to bash the Church and say that it’s evil and all its members are homophobic sheep cult members, etc. Everyone hates the Mormons and thinks we’re freaks so you learn to start flinching preemptively. This book didn’t do this. Tanner’s POV was unfamiliar with the Church which made sense bc the authors could explain to him and the audience, but there was real and genuine attempt to understand what it’s like to be a member and the culture here and I cannot overstate how much I appreciated that respect for my beliefs.
-Tanner’s mom leaving the Church. I hate to think that people could ever be so homophobic towards their own family but seriously, decades ago, it was bad and her beef with the Church and wanting to shield Tanner from that were very relatable and real to me. Helped the parent position a lot.
-the weather descriptions were perfect lol? That’s a Utah winter babey
-fascinated by the descriptions of how people dress and act here. Are we really that well-groomed?? Gonna be real, never lived outside Utah and I don’t have a ton of non-member friends so I can’t speak for this one. Also, I never picked up on the “must be polite always” thing but yeah that’s so real.
-that moment of being outed and seen as other and being terrified and knowing you shouldn’t be but you are and you’re so worried that this will completely shift how people view you and then you’ll no longer be worthy of their love??? …yeah. No further comment.
-constant hope of future revelation from the Prophet to change everything? …also yeah. If we could lift the Priesthood restrictions, what else could change 🤞😔

Things I didn’t like:
-no one they met was named Nephi/Ephraim/Teancum/Moroni/Alma/Sariah lmao. Points off for realism. (I’m 100% not joking here because I’ve personally met or known of people with all of these names)

holy sweet glory someone tell me why Tanner and Autumn had sex. It added nothing to the story, didn’t even really meaningfully change their friendship (how???), and didn’t present a major source of conflict for Tanner and Seb so like hello?? Why??

-I’m just super confused about how Seb was apparently grappling with his sexuality the whole time and also

his worthiness?? I wasn’t clear if Tanner and Seb had legit sex but even as far as they got that I could tell, that’s enough to disqualify you from a mission so if he’s really so devout, then ???

Also, I feel like there’s no way that Seb’s mom could submit his papers for him. He would have to do it himself so smh.
-THE RANDOM POV SHIFTS. We start in 1st person POV for Tanner and then it shifts to 3rd person for Seb and I was like okay weird but that’s fine but THEN IT WENT TO 3rd person for Tanner???? And then the book ended in 1st person for Tanner. Hate it. Make a choice y’all and stay consistent.
-Sebastian as a a character. Tbh I was disappointed. I was looking for some real grappling with doctrine and attraction and wanting something but feeling that’s it’s wrong and contemplating sacrificing your entire culture and identity and being absolutely terrified and I feel like I kinda got that but not really. I know that the authors probably felt like they couldn’t write that super personal struggle from Seb’s point of view so they choose to center on Tanner. As a queer person, I wanted to see that struggle. Sebastian believed that he wasn’t wrong in his feelings and I guess I always did believe I was wrong. While I’m typing this, I’m realizing this didn’t hit for *me* because it doesn’t align with my experience and what I wanted to see but it might work for other religious queer people.

In conclusion, I appreciate a lot of this but I have a lot of issues with it. 3 ⭐️

Content Warnings

vagaybond's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

This was so emotional. I'm not used to a YA book having such nuance. And to be as heartbreaking as this. No one died but I feel as emotionally wrought as I did watching the movie Holding The Man (2015) which was based on a book a man wrote about the love story between he and his partner after his partner died of AIDS and before he himself did. There is so much pain in queerness and I often wish to escape it all and have fluffy romance where nobody has to deal with things like I've been through.* And I know there are people who have been luckier than me who don't know pains related to it. But this captured this pain so well and so poetically. I often wish undying love were not so undying too.

*(Disclaimer: my family is imperfect and they were abusive to me, but I did assume coming out specifically would go okay until I actually came out and reality proved otherwise. I wasn't on speaking terms with my biological family from 19-27 or so. Honestly the reaction to coming out is probably what was the last straw, and I'm not sure that a last straw would have existed otherwise. And I needed that no-contact time to survive and become the person I am.)

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aromarrie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

tanner & sebastian deserve the world ⛰️🧡

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unusuallyy's review

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challenging hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

brookeisbusyreading's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

First, I want to thank the authors for that ending! I try to accept whatever ending books have because obviously they’re written that way for a reason, but I was BEGGING for this book to end the way I wanted it to lol

Tanner and Sebastian’s struggles, family dynamics, and views on their sexuality was kind of addictive to read about. I don’t want to call current queer romances ‘light-hearted’ or ‘flowery’, though they mostly have a happy ever after (that I’m not complaining about). I like that Autoboyography didn’t have that feeling. The romance was paced differently for one thing.

I’ve also got…different feelings about religion and sexuality or gender identity now than I did when I was little. There’s some religious trauma in there too. Naturally, I connected with Sebastian’s struggles even if I, thankfully, wasn’t around such a religious household. I can sympathize with him.

I love the title of this book too! I don’t know what else to say except that it’s just a really good book!

Content Warnings

rafacolog's review against another edition

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emotional

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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thejenstamps's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

After reflecting on this beautiful novel for a few days, I can safely say that this is my favorite read of 2023 - and easily top five of all time.

I wish this was required reading for high school kids.

If you are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, love someone who is LGBTQIA+, want to understand the community more, and/or are an ally, you’ll adore this book.

And if you don’t fit into one of those categories above, you probably should definitely read this book.

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rachelyrun's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The pacing in this book is dead on. I cared so much about these characters my chest hurt and I couldn't put it down.

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