A guy works through his grief and guilt! This obviously could only be achieved by (checks notes) multiple pages of homophobic crime including among other violent gang rape and attempted murder. I just don't understand the point but I see other people liked it so good for you! To me, if you removed the 10k similes and unrelated violence you'd be left with about 10 pages of plot. Religious themes unfortunately not deep enough for me to feel anything about.
The star is for a solid beginning/exposition.