Fifteen Shades of Gay

My overall response to this book was “Meh.” It was alright, but I didn't like it enough to really enjoy reading it. Too much about the characters' behavior was unbelievable to me. For example, would a closeted conservative politician take his male escort to a public bar? I don't think so. I also couldn't believe anyone as over-the-top unpleasant as Andrew's dad could have possibly attracted not one, but two people enough for them to fall in love with him. I dunno, maybe my expectations for humanity are still too high.

My other problem is that I really couldn't make myself like Cormac. Closeted politicians, pastors, and other people in positions of leadership that openly speak out against homosexuality just absolutely disgust me. I completely understand his confusion and the pressure he was under being raised in a conservative family - I was raised the same way. I didn't fault him for being closeted. But to then gain a position of power and take a public stance that he knew was wrong, just because of pressure (and probably voting on bills based on that stance)? That's cowardice.

I didn't read anything about Cormac's honest positions on political issues in his discussions with Andrew that would have kept him from being able to identify as a Democrat rather than a Republican. I couldn't figure out why he identified more with the Republican party (at least not the fucking joke that party has become since Obama was elected President). He seemed to imply that Democrats are pro-illegal immigration and anti-corporations, when in reality, they just want to make it easier for people to immigrate legally and become contributing members of society who can get legitimate jobs and pay taxes. They also realize how vital corporations are (we do have a capitalist economy after all), but believe that without regulation, corporate greed can get out of hand and damage our society, and that the free market doesn't always get things right (e.g. healthcare). Cormac's most passionate issue was environmentalism for goodness sake! All that to say, there wasn't anything stopping him from switching parties and coming out of the closet.

Granted, Cormac did eventually change his public position on homosexuality, but it seemed to me he only did it to win Andrew back, not because of strong moral beliefs. Maybe I'm being too judgmental, but his political shit just rubbed me the wrong way.

Lastly, it was completely obvious from the start that Andrew's sister would die, so since I was waiting for it, I wasn't upset at all when it finally happened.

Despite all that bothered me about the book, I didn't hate it, so it gets 2 stars. Wow, my political rant made this review much longer than I intended. Oops.