Am amazing work of raw emotion!!!
Favorite essays:
A Bearing
Shame
Public Swim
One Person Means Alone
Some Mothers

I enjoyed these essays however they did feel a bit disjointed and repeated certain points - I realised reading the end content that they were published in different places and pulled together for the book, which explains this. I enjoyed most reading about the contrasts and similarities between living as a queer person in 1990s/early 2000s Southeast America and in China.

I enjoyed this even more than I expected - Rogers has a wonderful prose style that moves between lighter moments and serious reflection really smoothly. I was fascinated by the themes she explores (the American south, gender and sexuality, academia) without feeling smothered by them, and I really enjoyed how she moves throughout time in the essays, rather than placing them chronologically, which let me feel like later essays redefined my understanding of the earlier ones. My hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending this is in the essay on race and swimming, which felt completely superficial - she doesn't add anything new to the wealth of writing on the relationship between Black Americans and public pools and this essay felt really navel gazing, like she was commenting on feeling guilty for her access without changing or developing her thinking on it. This felt like it needed some more work and critical thought, but I couldn't say the same for the other essays, which I enjoyed much more.

I loved this book so much! As a queer person who was born in the south and lived all over the United States before later in life moving back to the North Carolina, I could relate so much to the words Rogers shares in these essays.

It's a quick read but it sometimes deals with heavy topics - especially if you can relate as much as I could - so I found myself taking breaks to let things sink in, and to reflect on how many of Rogers' experiences paralleled my own. I read it from cover to cover the first time, but I see myself re-reading it, or sections of it from time to time as it really resonates in many ways, especially in our current political climate.

I'm definitely recommending to friends. We need more of our stories shared and our voices heard.

This is such an interesting read, the collection of essays bound together that cover retrospective opinions and experience on the writers life, living in the American south from the early 2000s up until the 2020s. Many items are very thought provoking and at times could be seen as triggering depending on your views. I did find some areas hard to resonate with but as a non-American reader found some of these essays lacking emotion especially around the area of the country club but I do appreciate that this is not a work of fiction. I felt as if I was looking in on somebody’s experiences that felt at times detached, an observation on the world in New Orleans (mainly), snippets of other American areas and a few regions of China. The essays are not fully linked to each other and certain essays do jump around in time that is not linear but they all link together in a certain way. This is very well written, but I do have to wonder what was the point of these essays, was this a blog? Or something editorial? It is not an overly long read but I think personally best read at stages as the essays are standalone subjects and can be quite weighted in places. Thank you NetGalley for an opportunity to read this book for an honest review.