This is my favorite book of the semester. So far it is a refreshing story of truth and acceptance. It contains family history that no other woman in the family was willing to share. This story of identity that deals with the challenges of finding herself as a lesbian, a lover, a sister, a daughter and much more. The author takes us on a journey through her life story and the life stories of her family by sharing poetry that explains her life lessons through, “Two or three things I know for sure…and one is that I would rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me” This quote in particular I think speaks on her expectations the world holds her to as a woman who should love men, as a rape victim who should keep what happened to her hushed because the people around her didn’t know how to deal with that information so they brushed it off, and as an older sister who was supposed to set a good example and be a role model in every aspect of her life for her sister. All these expectations and more made it hard for her to find her place but demanded she respond to such expectations and she does by becoming the exception of every rule. She stands out by defining who she is and by learning how to do that with the help of the failures of her family and their pasts. This quote reminds me of “Don’t try to be something you’re not” and I think this is her message in this selection of poetry. She would rather tell her story and have people not be pleased with who she is and the choices she has made rather than fall into the future that the rest of her family made for themselves by not telling their own stories.
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