Book review: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Book: All Boys Aren’t Blue

Author: George M. Johnson

Publication: April 28, 2020

Rating: 4,5 stars

Now here’s a book that I loved although it took me about two weeks to finish it. In the author’s note Johnson expresses the wish for the reader to laugh and cry while reading their book. More importantly though they wish for the reader to gain understanding and empathy for people who are different. And boy does this book deliver just that. I found myself laughing quite a few times while sometimes the tear stains on my pillowcase weren’t out of laughter but sadness. And reading their honest recounting of their experiences, I mean, you’d need to be quite cold-hearted not to gain any understanding or empathy.

It was a treat to read Johnson’s book and not the least because while talking about a serious subject matter, they still maintain a certain type of joy and hope in their writing. The memoir is geared toward young adults (but seriously, everyone should read this in my opinion) and it shows in the language and writing style. This, however, doesn’t detract from the book’s value. Rather, it shows that it is possible to talk about racism, queerness and sexuality without making it sound like a lecture or making the discussion overtly difficult to understand and follow. I feel like Johnson’s approach to tackling these issues will be very attractive to teens and they are the main target audience here. Johnson has said that this book was written in large part so that this generation of black queer teens would have something that they can see themselves represented in and feel seen and heard.

Another thing worth mentioning here is that Johnson doesn’t shy away from fairly detailed sexual content when it comes to, for example, losing their virginity. I don’t live in the US and have no first hand knowledge of their sex ed (other than what John Oliver has taught me) but from what Johnson writes, it wasn’t very comprehensive when they were in school and I don’t imagine it has gotten that much better to this day. They write about how dangerous it can be to not give proper sex ed to kids especially concerning queer sex. It reminded me of the BBC documentary ”Growing up gay” with Olly Alexander from a few years back and how they also commented on the lack of LGBT inclusive sex ed in the UK and how harmful it could be.

In light of this I can totally understand why Johnson wanted to be respectfully explicit when writing about sex. I have read quite a few ya queer romance novels and whatever sex there ever is usually happens behind closed doors or doesn’t happen at all. And if it’s not talked about in school and you can’t read about it in ya books then it’s no wonder that Johnson wanted to give a detailed account of their experiences and mistakes and hope that with this information at least some future mistakes could be avoided.

I truly loved Johnson writing about their family and telling the stories about their youth in a way that made the reader feel like they were there right alongside Johnson. Some of the stories were really hard to read while others not so much, but all in all I really enjoyed reading their memoir and hope that this book reaches those who need it the most.

”But I’ve come to learn that symbolism is a threat to actual change - it’s a chance for those in power to say, ”Look how far you have come” rather than admitting, ”Look how long we’ve stopped you from getting here.””

”You must remember: No matter how it comes at you, the impact matters more than the intent.”

”One day the choice must be made by all: Are you teaching people how to swim or are you letting them drown.”

”It’s entirely different to struggle with white kids because I was Black, and Black kids because I was gay. That double marginalization was a tiresome burden.”

”Love who you want to love and do it unapologetically, including that face you see every day in the mirror.”