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Biography & Autobiography. LGBTQIA+ (Nonfiction.) Nonfiction. HTML:The New York Times bestselling memoir about identity, love and understanding. Now a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Lucas Hedges, directed by Joel Edgerton. "Every sentence of the story will stir your soul" (O Magazine). The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality. When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to �??cure�?� him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Through an institutionalized Twelve-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness. By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all… (more)
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There
Firstly, the sheer honesty of this book. I commend Conley for how open he is throughout this book and the extent to which he is willing to be vulnerable on the page. It makes the book so powerful.
Secondly, the overall feeling of the book. With the subject matter covered, it would be so easy for book to be angry or resentful. Ultimately, though, Conley writes with a great deal of compassion and love. In a lot of ways, the book mirrors what can be the experience of growing up with fundamentalist Christianity: an uncomfortable and confusing juxtaposition of love and hurt.
Finally, there's the form of conversion therapy depicted in the book. While there are some forms out there that use electroshock, for example, the type shown in Boy Erased is mainly based on talk, acting things out, or drawing family trees. It's not the dramatic type that we often see portrayed in popular culture, but its effects are absolutely devastating.
And I think it's that last factor that is the most powerful, especially in this political climate. There are a lot of harmful things worked into political platforms, and advocated by politicians and religious leaders. It's worked right into our culture, it's insidious, and it's something that we all need to be aware of.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely beautiful writing style. This book is hard to read but also completely beautiful at the same time. Highly recommended.
This memoir, in its beautiful prose, opened a door into the mind of a young man
This memoir was haunting, and horrible, and devastating, and beautiful. Conley is a wonderful writer, and was able to capture the conflicts of his mind and heart in a pure and raw way that allowed me as a reader to feel every ache, and doubt with him.
I think this is an important memoir, and one that needs telling. While it may no longer be as widely recognized, conversion therapy exists still today, and Conley's epilogue alone is proof of the long lasting, potentially permanent, damage it can do to someone.
This is not an easy memoir to get through and it certainly took a toll on me while reading. Yet, regardless of how hard it was, I felt it necessary. Certainly necessary for different reasons for different readers. For me, it allowed me to understand a part of my own community that I didn't before. For someone struggling with religion and their sexuality, it an help them to see someone else going through the same struggle, feeling the same things. Amid, other important take away's for other readers I'm sure.
It's important to tell as many of our communities stories as possible to show the wide range of human soul's these prejudices impact.
There were so many times that I wanted to scream, to cry, to reach out and take Garrard by the shoulders and promise it will be ok.
This book got to me. I think, if you read it, it will get to you too.