Are There Closets in Heaven?; A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share their
by Janet Curoe; Robert Curoe | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: 9780929636795 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 9780929636795 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Sedeara of Sioux Falls, South Dakota USA on 9/14/2008
This book is in a Controlled Release!
This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
I had expected this memoir to be based more on letters than it actually was; the review that got me interested in the memoir made it sound as though we'd see Carol and her father reconcile their Catholicism and Carol's lesbianism through years of working it out on paper. Carol's "coming out" letter does start the memoir, but after that it's essentially an account of a family going through the grieving and healing process that goes along with coming out. The fact that the Catholic church's stance on homosexuals is less than friendly didn't inform the book as much as I expected it to; instead, the experiences of Carol and Robert were more what might be typical of any rural community. I definitely recognized the culture of my own childhood within these pages.
So while I appreciate the fact that this story is being told, it didn't really do anything for me. The tone felt a bit too distant, as though the writers were still afraid to write honestly for fear that someone they knew would pick it up and see what they'd written. (Which was probably true, and which makes their courage in actually telling the story admirable). Although the book's main selling point seems to be the struggle to reconcile Catholicism and homosexuality (I mean, they're BOTH referenced in the title), this book is pretty spiritually dry. The tension in the story was more deeply rooted in "What will the neighbors think?" than the discord between Catholicism and living a full life as a gay person.
But I don't think I, someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about homosexuality and Catholicism, and someone who is WAY past the idea of anything being "weird" or "wrong" about GLBT people, am this book's intended audience. I think the intended audience are small-town, rural folks like Carol's parents who need reassurance that someday they'll learn to deal with a loved one's homosexuality, and that gay people really are "just like everyone else!" So, I'm going to send this one out into the world for someone who needs it more than I do.
So while I appreciate the fact that this story is being told, it didn't really do anything for me. The tone felt a bit too distant, as though the writers were still afraid to write honestly for fear that someone they knew would pick it up and see what they'd written. (Which was probably true, and which makes their courage in actually telling the story admirable). Although the book's main selling point seems to be the struggle to reconcile Catholicism and homosexuality (I mean, they're BOTH referenced in the title), this book is pretty spiritually dry. The tension in the story was more deeply rooted in "What will the neighbors think?" than the discord between Catholicism and living a full life as a gay person.
But I don't think I, someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about homosexuality and Catholicism, and someone who is WAY past the idea of anything being "weird" or "wrong" about GLBT people, am this book's intended audience. I think the intended audience are small-town, rural folks like Carol's parents who need reassurance that someday they'll learn to deal with a loved one's homosexuality, and that gay people really are "just like everyone else!" So, I'm going to send this one out into the world for someone who needs it more than I do.
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to Kansas via Paperbackswap.
Sent to Kansas via Paperbackswap.
