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My thoughts

3/5stars People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else. Going into this book I had really high expectations because I'd heard nothing but good reviews about it it does live upto the hype for almost all of it but I feel the storyline is sort of all over the place and there were certain things which did not seem convincing to me. This is the most intricate, poignant, realistically beautiful story and explores race, identity, white "passing" privileges. It is not a happy ending type of story but it sure gives us hope and solace. But it also begins to dive into the struggles and lives of trans people, of drag queens and the one thing I didn't understand was how the trans character's life was so easy. I'm not saying it can't be, but this is not a utopia and to see that Reese was so easily cis passing and being a black trans man at that time he had it all so easy sounds a little unconvincing to me. Not to forget the fact that, comparing a trans person and their struggles to racial passing was not necessary/okay to do. They both have their own struggles and on top that the trans character here seems to be present just for the sake of checking a box, he barely has a personality other than being a exceptional boyfriend and keep living as "passing" as a man forever without actually facing any difficulties. That being said, the book did try to scratch the surface of a plethora of issues and talks about colorism and identity and living lives so different and out of reach for us. There are various issues covered in the book like: Colorism, passing for white, Classism, Domestic Violence, Identity issues etc. I did expect somethings to be better than what they were, but it was still a pretty engaging read. That was the thrill of youth, the idea that you could be anyone. That was what had captured her in the charm shop, all those years ago. Then adulthood came, your choices solidifying, and you realize that everything you are had been set in motion years before. The rest was aftermath. CWs for the book: Lynching, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Transphobia, hate crimes, violence, death and domestic abuse.