greenteamachine's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.5

refgirl1's review against another edition

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Reading for a work  book group that fizzled, didn’t bother to renew library loan

its_bexx's review

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reflective

3.0

It’s a wide variety of folks being interviewed but I found myself wishing every single interview was just a bit longer and/or more in depth. Everything felt very surface level.
Our Lady J’s was the most profound and the saving grace of the whole book for me.
The point the author seems to be trying to make is “grind for capitalism to show everyone queer people (and I mean mostly gays with a couple trans folks but barely worth mentioning) can also work themselves to death”
Would have felt more meaningful if the closing passages had mentioned more about finding purpose in life as a whole, connecting with community, etc as so many of the interviews touched on

steffireadsbooks's review against another edition

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1.0

Bootstrapping and back patting for rich gay people.

rattlady's review

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hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.5

carlybarly6's review against another edition

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4.0

In this compilation of 40 interviews of famous queer people who range in age, race, background, career, and ethnicity, author Andrew Gelwicks sets out to find how being queer has enriched the lives each lead. Themes on mindfulness, introspection, work ethic, becoming, potential, and on and on recur throughout the book. I felt the second half of the book had more diversity and nuance in answers, but appreciated the work as a whole. While it’s impossible to ignore the injustices, and often pain, that have been the backdrop to queer people’s drive and necessity to make a place for themselves in an unwelcoming world, this book presents enlightening reflections and a beautiful ode to the unique beauty that queerness offers in and of itself.

jazsky99's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

3.0

I liked the questions and answers they talked through, just wish it was a bit more per person

readalongwithnat's review

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3.0

Thanks to Hachette Go for the free review copy. 

I really loved the format of this book. Many of the interviewees talked about how being queer really changed their work and careers, often for the better, and that was very timely and really resonated with me. 

lilystinylibrary's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

wxlamora's review against another edition

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4.0

I was gifted THE QUEER ADVANTAGE by Hachette Books as part of their #HBSocialClub - thank you so much for this beautiful book!

The Queer Advantage is a collection of 51 interviews with influential LGBTQ+ individuals. Instead of a common refrain of hardships and indignities, interviewer and author Andrew Gelwicks instead steers all the conversations to how being queer has advantaged these high power individuals in their lives and led them to their influential platforms in which they reign today.

You’ll find interviews from actors, politicians, CEOs, writers, producers, athletes and more. These people also identify across the spectrum as gay, lesbian, bi, queer, and trans - giving a beautiful range of powerful voices.

This collection is really physically beautiful as well as subjectively important. It’s important to change the narrative of a marginalized group of individuals if you have the power to do so. I found myself, as a queer identifying person, feeling more energized to get to work after reading a few interviews with my breakfast each morning. It helped hush the imposter syndrome for a bit and instead gave me an opportunity to celebrate who I am and the power it gives me every day.

I’d recommend any queer identifying person OR ally to pick up Gelwick’s collection. It’s so beautiful in publication you should think of it as the modern coffee table book. I found I lost speed and started to tune out if I read many interviews in a row (like one would a novel) and instead felt way more impact picking it up to read a couple here and there (especially in the morning).

This would make a great gift for your favorite queer person this holiday season- or for someone who could use a little insight to the joy and power that can come of being othered. ✨