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A review by jesseonyoutube
Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens by Tanya Boteju
5.0
Synopsis:
Nima's life closely resembles a wildfire. She's in love with a straight girl, her mom split (leaving both her and her loving, goofy dad), and she's bored to death with her life - but when a chance encounter with a dazzling drag queen sends Nima head first into the drag scene, Nima discovers just how incredible - and complicated - life can truly be.
Review:
Are there even enough "wows" or "stars" for this book?! Besides the jaw dropping cover which is *truly* fab, I fell in love with the casual, comedic writing style which flawlessly carries a cast of incredible characters on their singular but conjoined journeys. We have Nima's straight best friend, Charles, who is just as awkward and misfit as Nima himself... Gordon, the sullen bully who is hiding more than anyone imagines... and Deidre, the incredible queen who nurtures and mentors all of these incredibly mixed up characters while also infusing the story with TONS of personality, wild antics, and giggles. I mean, Deidre is responsible for some of the best moments and funniest dialogue in the story. "Sugar, you will never be-lievethe dexterity of the doctor who gave me these boobs!"
Kings, Queens, and In Betweens gives us everything that is missing from many "G" and "L" stories (gay and lesbian). it gives us LGBTQ characters who are of color, questioning, nonbinary/trans, AND it normalizes use of gender neutral pronouns, along with eye opening conversations about the assumptions we make about one another and the boxes we love to squeeze people into. One of my favorite side characters is a very masculine man of ambiguous sexuality who loves to perform drag. "I just hope you understand, sometimes the clothes do not make the man"
I loved seeing rep for a masculine male character who is comfortable wearing makeup and performing femininity. I also fell pretty hard for Nima's dad - who takes it all in stride when Nima begins to hang out with trans individuals and learn about drag culture. I was fully ready for tons of triggering scenes full of transphobia, always waiting for this book to turn into one of the many "queer tragedies" I've read. Instead, it gave me meaningful and complex conversations but tons of laughter and queer characters having fun. I needed that.
I loved Nima most of all. As flawed as she is, I loved watching her figure herself out, and I live for her hilarious and sometimes self deprecating internal dialogue: "Christ in tights..." "dear god of everything gay.." But I also loved her 'real' moments and her journey. In this book, we get to see her grapple with being forcibly labeled as LGBT+ :
"That was the second time I'd heard 'dyke' over the past few days, both times in reference to me, both times making my heart stagger" but also deal with the generally MORTIFYING moments of embarrassment we all experience as teens: "I'd had plenty of time to replay the events of the previous night over and over again. Each time, I was able to remember some detail that made the whole situation even more horrifying..." The scenes in which Nima embarrasses herself in front of a crowd or the girl she likes were SO relatable that I had to physically PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND COVER MY FACE.
In short, this book is incredible and I want a sequel. I want to see what happens to Gordon - who has an INCREDIBLE development as a character and who you will love if you enjoy morally ambiguous characters. I want to see what happens to Nima and who she becomes later in life. I NEED A SEQUEL.
Representation and Themes:
1. Trans/Gender non conforming characters and of color
2. Breaking of gender roles
3. Parental abandonment
4. Coming of age
5. drag culture
6. platonic opposite sex friendship
7. healthy father-daughter relationship
8. Non masculine, cis men
9. Queer joy <3 (seeing HAPPY LGBT characters was AMAZING)
My only real critique is that Nima is 17 and is actively being romantically pursued by someone who is at least 21. 17 is the legal age of consent in many states but i still feel the age difference should have been clarified and addressed. Nima and her love interest literally never talk about the age gap and about consent and I felt that was a very important topic that should not have been left out.
Overall, this is a great story. You'll be missing out and doing yourself a great disservice if you fail to read it - so read it.
Nima's life closely resembles a wildfire. She's in love with a straight girl, her mom split (leaving both her and her loving, goofy dad), and she's bored to death with her life - but when a chance encounter with a dazzling drag queen sends Nima head first into the drag scene, Nima discovers just how incredible - and complicated - life can truly be.
Review:
Are there even enough "wows" or "stars" for this book?! Besides the jaw dropping cover which is *truly* fab, I fell in love with the casual, comedic writing style which flawlessly carries a cast of incredible characters on their singular but conjoined journeys. We have Nima's straight best friend, Charles, who is just as awkward and misfit as Nima himself... Gordon, the sullen bully who is hiding more than anyone imagines... and Deidre, the incredible queen who nurtures and mentors all of these incredibly mixed up characters while also infusing the story with TONS of personality, wild antics, and giggles. I mean, Deidre is responsible for some of the best moments and funniest dialogue in the story. "Sugar, you will never be-lievethe dexterity of the doctor who gave me these boobs!"
Kings, Queens, and In Betweens gives us everything that is missing from many "G" and "L" stories (gay and lesbian). it gives us LGBTQ characters who are of color, questioning, nonbinary/trans, AND it normalizes use of gender neutral pronouns, along with eye opening conversations about the assumptions we make about one another and the boxes we love to squeeze people into. One of my favorite side characters is a very masculine man of ambiguous sexuality who loves to perform drag. "I just hope you understand, sometimes the clothes do not make the man"
I loved seeing rep for a masculine male character who is comfortable wearing makeup and performing femininity. I also fell pretty hard for Nima's dad - who takes it all in stride when Nima begins to hang out with trans individuals and learn about drag culture. I was fully ready for tons of triggering scenes full of transphobia, always waiting for this book to turn into one of the many "queer tragedies" I've read. Instead, it gave me meaningful and complex conversations but tons of laughter and queer characters having fun. I needed that.
I loved Nima most of all. As flawed as she is, I loved watching her figure herself out, and I live for her hilarious and sometimes self deprecating internal dialogue: "Christ in tights..." "dear god of everything gay.." But I also loved her 'real' moments and her journey. In this book, we get to see her grapple with being forcibly labeled as LGBT+ :
"That was the second time I'd heard 'dyke' over the past few days, both times in reference to me, both times making my heart stagger" but also deal with the generally MORTIFYING moments of embarrassment we all experience as teens: "I'd had plenty of time to replay the events of the previous night over and over again. Each time, I was able to remember some detail that made the whole situation even more horrifying..." The scenes in which Nima embarrasses herself in front of a crowd or the girl she likes were SO relatable that I had to physically PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND COVER MY FACE.
In short, this book is incredible and I want a sequel. I want to see what happens to Gordon - who has an INCREDIBLE development as a character and who you will love if you enjoy morally ambiguous characters. I want to see what happens to Nima and who she becomes later in life. I NEED A SEQUEL.
Representation and Themes:
1. Trans/Gender non conforming characters and of color
2. Breaking of gender roles
3. Parental abandonment
4. Coming of age
5. drag culture
6. platonic opposite sex friendship
7. healthy father-daughter relationship
8. Non masculine, cis men
9. Queer joy <3 (seeing HAPPY LGBT characters was AMAZING)
My only real critique is that Nima is 17 and is actively being romantically pursued by someone who is at least 21. 17 is the legal age of consent in many states but i still feel the age difference should have been clarified and addressed. Nima and her love interest literally never talk about the age gap and about consent and I felt that was a very important topic that should not have been left out.
Overall, this is a great story. You'll be missing out and doing yourself a great disservice if you fail to read it - so read it.