Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen by Amrou Al-Kadhi

37 reviews

kotroby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I’m glad I found this book through the Storygraph 2023 Genre challenge, as I don’t think I would have crossed paths with it otherwise. As I have been doing with all non-fiction books I listened to the audio version of this story, narrated by the author, and just want to say it was a very pleasant experience. This book addresses a lot of sensitive and important issues from racism to homophobia and transphobia, acceptance (or lack there of), colonialism and it’s impacts today and wraps it all up in a deeply personal and moving story. I appreciate how hard it must have been for the author to dig through all their traumatic memories to craft this story for us, and as always the honesty and no bs approach to the facts really does come across to build an overall better story. I feel for the child that had to grow up detached from their community and heritage, that felt the need to fit into a world outside of their own because their world seemed to be shunning them so strongly. I imagine it can be hard sometimes to write about your experiences growing up because we don’t want our parents to be seen in a negative light, especially one we paint ourselves, so the fact that the author never tried to defend their parents’ actions, but rather justified them and explained their reasoning and how they’re own heritage had affected their decisions, was refreshing, and reminded me fondly of ‘I’m Glad My Mother Died’ which was another deeply moving memoir that shared that vein of deep honesty. This is a story of grief, grief for the life this child didn’t get to have because of the place and time they were born, of rage for the trauma this young person went through at the hands of parents who in their heart had only the best intentions even if misplaced, but ultimately it’s a story of love, of accepting your place in the world and feeling that the world accepts you, and finding your people. It’s a beautifully moving story of how this person grew to accept themselves and feel accepted by others, and at its heart it’s a love story for their mother.

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kellys_bookcase's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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anniereads221's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective

5.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

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epellicci's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

4.5

An incredibly moving account of growing up Queer and Muslims. Life as a Unicorn is a powerful recounting of trauma and rage, and the slow creeping towards healing. Emotional and astoundingly honest, I was so struck by Amrou's strength, spirit, and ability to find it within themslef to forgive. What an amazing soul.

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