the black flamingo by Dean Atta

Seventy-sixth book of 2020

Reading period: Sep 22nd 2020

Summary

A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.

Rating

Review

This book is one of my favourite of the year. If I can give more than 5 out of 5 stars, I will do it without a problem.

The evolution of Michael is so well done. I like that we follow him from his childhood to young adulthood. It gives you time to learn who he is also to connect to him. The novel feels like non-fiction as it is so genuine.

You have a lot of current topics that are important to talk about. You learn a lot with this book as it makes you think. Everyone should read this book as it is easy to connect with the story.

The story is written in verse adds a lot to the emotional and genuineness of the story. Additionally, the drawings are amazing, and I would like to see them in colours.

This book will stay with me for a long time, especially one poem which totally resonates to me. When I finished it, I didn’t want to put it down, but I wanted to continue reading about Michael.

Liz.