The Black Flamingo audiobook

4.5**Update I reread this because I had listened to the audiobook the first time and then found out there were illustrations in it and I'm sooo glad I did

“your ignorance may be innocent, but the racism is real” wow... just wow. READ THIS BOOK. it's incredible and 100% one of my favourite books of the year.

who else did not know they needed this drag queen origin story??I first saw Dean Atta talk and read at a poetry event in Berlin. I had previously read his poem "How to come out as gay" in the queer anthology Proud (that you should definitely read cause it's perfect and super gay) and couldn't believe my luck when I found out that I would be able to see him perform live. The reading was fascinating and Dean's poetry touched me deeply. He has a way of stringing words together that just made me want to keep listening forever.The Black Flamingo is a YA novel written in verse. It tells the story of Michael, a half Jamaican, half Greek-Cyprian boy growing up in the UK. From an early age, he is more interested in barbies and singing than is usually deemed acceptable by a society that strives on toxic masculinity, but his mother takes him as he is. As he gets older, Michael tries to find out who he is and where he fits in but he struggles - mainly because he is gay and mixed-race. Only at university, when he discovers the Drag Society, he finally feels seen, confident, and fierce. But between his childhood and his first drag performance on stage, he will go through heartbreak, dream of fame and cute boys, make and lose friends, and experience the bittersweet and exciting years of growing up.The book is a celebration of youth and love, but most of all of blackness and queerness. It is a beautiful, light read that touches on quiet truths and deep emotions. Once or twice I got a bit teary and had goosebumps. Here is one short poem that I particularly liked, just to give you an example of what to expect:Men are sandcastles made out of pebblesand the bucket is patriarchy: if you remove itwe fear we won't be able to hold ourselvestogether, we pour cement to fill the gapsto make ourselves concrete constructions.Find more of my books on Instagram

4.5 Stars.

4.5 stars “You are a full human being. It's never as simple as being half and half.” This was a stunning book!We follow Michael as he grows from a child to a teenager to a young adult. We are right with him when he takes his first tentative steps towards adulthood and finding his identity. This book is a fairy tale in which I am the prince and the princess. I am the king and the queen. This was one of my very first verse novels and I don't think I got the full effect by listening to the audiobook. I could tell that the sentence structure was different from a regular novel but I think I would have had more of an impact if I had read it (especially considering the regular book apparently had a pictures and other visual formats to enhance the story).I did really enjoy this book though - Michael's story was compelling and beautifully told. I loved watching him grow and develop throughout.The story was well-crafted - it covered so many years and never skipped the beat. I loved the representation and the wonderful characters that the story surrounds. Michael's family and his family of choice were both fabulous.And the ending was fantastic!All in all, I would recommend it. “I come from stories, myths, legends and folk tales” YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

Don’t come out because you think that society expects you to.Come out for yourself.Come out to yourselfThis book was such an impactful read for me and the epilogue had me sobbing with how much I resonated with everything being said. This is an amazing book that deals with a coming of age LGBTQIA+ main character. It deals with race, racism, gender identity, sexuality, drag, internalized homophobia and homophobia. It is definitely a deep book but it does have lighthearted, loving moments. I would highly recommend this to anyone and cannot wait to read more from Dean Atta, loved this!I also read this in a reading vlog on my YouTube channel and discussed more of my in depth thoughts on the book. You can watch that here: https://youtu.be/PzrU5cXV8mE

Este libro es excepcional.Antes de empezar con la review solo diré una cosa: qué necesario es y qué agradecido me siento de haberle dado una oportunidad. Este es uno de esos libros que cambian vidas, que tienen un impacto positivo y que ayudará a miles de personas por todo el mundo, especialmente a la juventud LGTB racializada.Dicho esto... let's go!En The Black Flamingo el autor nos cuenta la historia de Michael, un joven gay medio jamaicano medio griego-chipriota de Reino Unido. El libro se divide en partes, pero nos narra su vida: desde que nació y sus primeros recuerdos hasta lo que sería la actualidad, con un Michael universitario y drag. Es una historia de superación, entendimiento, positividad, pero también sobre racismo, homofobia y exclusión.El tono que le da Dean Atta es increíble. No va por lo triste o emocional, ni siquiera por lo sencillo. Es un viaje realista por la mente de Michael, y aprendemos junto a él en sus experiencias. El libro tiene desde poemas hasta mensajes de texto e ilustraciones, pero también juega en sí con la forma. Las páginas en negro son los momentos más importantes en la vida del protagonista, y destacan físicamente del resto del libro por eso mismo: porque destacan dentro de la narrativa del libro.Aviso de que The Black Flamingo, como comento, es un mix de muchas cosas. Pero tened en cuenta que es un libro narrado en prosa, exceptuando algunos momentos muy pequeños. Pero, también quiero deciros, que eso no os eche para atrás. De hecho, quizá eso hace que la historia cale tanto y se agarre a tu pecho para no soltarte, acompañando a Michael en cada decisión que toma como si fueran tuyas propias.El libro explora con temas como la identificación. ¿Es Michael lo suficientemente negro al ser una mezcla? ¿Tiene espacio en la comunidad negra o en la griega? O directamente: ¿Michael vive bullying por ser negro o por ser gay? Son preguntas que el protagonista se plantea, y cuyo arco es increíble. Como comento, aprendes junto al protagonista, y hay grandes momentos donde diferentes personajes intervienen en injusticias o en call-outs a Michael u otros personajes. Ese detalle me ha gustado porque creo que expresa muy bien la sociedad en la que estamos (y de la que Michael forma parte, habiendo nacido al filo de los 2000, o sea, Generación Z). Si hay un momento, aunque sea mínimamente racista o de homofobia interiorizada, se discute y se comenta.Dejando de lado lo que aprendes y lo que no, es decir, las enseñanzas que pueden salir del libro, el viaje de Michael y el tema de la edición, en The Black Flamingo nos encontramos con un coming-on-age, aunque al ser un libro 'resumen' de toda una vida, es una etiqueta un poco ambigua, pero justamente una etiqueta ambigua es la mejor definición que se le podría dar a este libro. Hay escenas de instituto con chicas populares, mensajitos de amor, salidas a discotecas, tramas familiares, romance... Es un libro que tiene absolutamente de todo, y me sorprende porque no lo pensé en un primer momento. Me dije a mí mismo: "si es un libro en prosa y juegan tanto con el espacio y las ilustraciones, no debe tener demasiado contenido". Y, de nuevo, me he llevado un gran zas en la boca.No me ha gustado que el marketing que rodea el libro sea sobre 'un chico drag queen' cuando... no es así. De hecho, todo ese tema surge ya pasada la primera mitad del libro. Si tu máxima pretensión es esa... te vas a llevar una decepción. Por eso insisto en que es una historia que tiene muchísimo más que aportar que eso.En definitiva: The Black Flamingo es un libro increíble. He vivido con muchísima intensidad la historia de Michael, y aunque hay cosillas que no me han convencido demasiado, en general es uno de esos libros que TIENES que leer sí o sí. En serio: haceos el favor.

“When it's time to go onstage, know that you're not ready but this is not about being ready … it's about being free. I don't have a clue what I'm doing but that's not going to stop me.”love love LOVE!! This story is told in verse and I don’t always expect for the poems to still be “poetic”, but these really were. There was a wonderful mix of storytelling mixed with poems he was writing throughout the story, as well as poems that helped him understand his own thoughts. It’s beautiful and hard at times, with topics surrounding identity. He discusses what it feels like to be mixed or “half”, a feeling of not belonging even when you know you’re deeply loved, and sexuality. Everything about this was beautiful but if there was only one section I could read over and over again, it’s the epilogue. Actually, it would be the whole ending, but especially the epilogue.

"This book is a fairy talein which I am the prince and the princess. I am the king and the queen. I am my own wicked witch and fairy godmother." Wow this book was just wow. It is such an amaing book that everyone should read it. This book follows this mixed race gay boy who comes to accept his identity as a drag artist called The Black Flamingo. "I can’t be your friend without calling this out. Your ignorance may be innocent but the racism is real." I loved how this book challenged things as "ordinary" and showed us how Michael embraced his uniqueness. We are all unique, no person is the same, but because we want to fit in this world we tend to hide that and just be "ordinary". I loved how this book challenged this idea and showed us why is good to be your own unique person. Of course, I loved the LGBT representation in this book. Seeing our main character coming to terms that he is gay, not being afraid of his identity and who he actually is, is such a big part of the back that I loved so much. Michael is an amazing character, and I lived following his journey form childhood until college where he started to discover himself. And Michael wasn't the only LGBT character, we had quite a few other characters sprinkled through out the story which I absolutely loved reading about and seeing them interact with Michael. My only complaint about this book and the reason that I couldn't give this book a 5 star rating is the writing style. Before you say anything, it's not a bad writing style by any means. It actually is an amazingly written book, but it's told in verse and I tend to feel a bit disconnected because of that with these type of stories. I just feel that I don't get the full picture, the full story because of it. It can be very lyrical and I just find it too hard sometimes to actually connect with anything happening in the story. Overall if you're interesting in this type of stories, don't be afraid to pick this book up. It's worthy, even if it's not a book that you usually tend to pick up. "Don’t come out for anyone else’s sake. Don’t come out because you think society expects you to. Come out for yourself. Come out to yourself."

reading vlog https://youtu.be/kUeIHULoMQ8

A rather powerful and moving story told in a beautiful, poetic format. Unlike anything I've ever read before and there were so many moments I could relate to this as a gay man. Simply wonderful!

This book is so worth the read! Not my usual kind of read in terms of genre (contemporary) or format (verse), but it certainly convinced me that I need to give contemporary as a whole more of a chance. This is a book that will stick with me. Focusing largely on identity, this book shows the fluidity of life, the complications of loving relationships, the need to confront the internalisations of society...and so much more. So much is said in so little words, and it really packs a punch. Definitely encourage everybody to pick this up.

This one totally surprised me!First of all, it's a book in verse.Second, it has awesome poetry content in between.Third, the illustration is just amazing!But what got me the most was the narration which is heartfelt, piercing, meaningful and wholesome.I have read some coming of age, young adult queer LGBTQ plus fiction and non-fiction but this one stands out as something very close to heart and it almost reads to me like a biographical fiction. It is the first time for me to read about the Drag community and it has been represented so well.The only issue for me is one particular line in this book that says: "Rowan looks like if Ed Sheeran was handsome."The point being Ed Sheeran does not represent 'not handsome', author. This is just unacceptable. But nonetheless I liked the concepts and the representations in the book. Love the author and artist references!And yes, this book is utterly colourful! Literally and coverwise 💭

Powerful, captivating, awe-inspiring, beautiful, important... There are so many words I could use to describe this book and why everyone should read it. I went into this book knowing that it was an LGBTQ+ book written in verse, but I knew little else about it until I cracked open that first page and fell in love with this book. This book is one of the most heartfelt and well written books that I've ever read about finding who you are and where you belong. This is a book that teens need to read and even if you aren't mixed race or LGBTQ+, I guarantee you that you will relate to and be inspired by the main character in this book. This is a book that everyone needs to read at least once in their life because it will change you for the better.