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sarah's Reviews > My Policeman
My Policeman
by
by
DNF
others have said it better than i could, but this is a novel written by a straight woman for straight women to voyeuristically revel in gay men’s trauma. so much of it, i quickly realized, reads like fanfiction, and that probably isn’t a coincidence. the only interest this author has in her gay characters is how sexy she seems to find “forbidden romance” — that is, of course, until she decides to narratively punish her gay characters for that very same romance she finds so alluring.
i gave up with about sixty pages to go, but i know the ending and it isn’t worth it to continue. this is the kind of novel straight people will pat themselves on the back for having read, but for gay people it’s just disappointing and re-traumatizing. it couldn’t be more clear who the intended audience for this is once you realize the only lesbian in the novel is a vaguely-defined “fun friend” who wears pants and only exists to teach marion a very important lesson about homophobia before completely vanishing from the plot. the fact that tom and patrick’s trip to venice, the only moment of calm and happiness they get to share together, is barely mentioned at all, and that the author decides to show us scenes of attempted conversion therapy and gay bashing instead should be very telling. this novel is interested in gay people only as props, or as fetishistic objects of desire.
it’s 2021. we can do better than this.
others have said it better than i could, but this is a novel written by a straight woman for straight women to voyeuristically revel in gay men’s trauma. so much of it, i quickly realized, reads like fanfiction, and that probably isn’t a coincidence. the only interest this author has in her gay characters is how sexy she seems to find “forbidden romance” — that is, of course, until she decides to narratively punish her gay characters for that very same romance she finds so alluring.
i gave up with about sixty pages to go, but i know the ending and it isn’t worth it to continue. this is the kind of novel straight people will pat themselves on the back for having read, but for gay people it’s just disappointing and re-traumatizing. it couldn’t be more clear who the intended audience for this is once you realize the only lesbian in the novel is a vaguely-defined “fun friend” who wears pants and only exists to teach marion a very important lesson about homophobia before completely vanishing from the plot. the fact that tom and patrick’s trip to venice, the only moment of calm and happiness they get to share together, is barely mentioned at all, and that the author decides to show us scenes of attempted conversion therapy and gay bashing instead should be very telling. this novel is interested in gay people only as props, or as fetishistic objects of desire.
it’s 2021. we can do better than this.
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by
Anniek
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rated it 4 stars
Jul 21, 2024 09:39AM
i don’t absolutely love this book, but i think it was written with the spirit of the time in mind. the conversion therapy talk and gay bashing was, unfortunately, what was truly going on in the 50’s. of course, modern books set in modern times should focus more on gay joy and liberation!
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