Minus half a ⭐ for the 43 uses of the word Underpants.

This book took me by surprise a little bit. It was raw and dark which I find is something I don't often come across in Queer fiction. I think that Queer fiction commonly gravitates to displaying Queer joy since our joy is often something that is stolen from us in real life. Fiction naturally seeks to remedy that and provide an escape from these hardships which I do love and appreciate, however it was a certain type of refreshing to read such an unfiltered work of fiction.

The Whale Tattoo dove deep into the experience of Love, Loss and mental health. It has strong themes of homophobia, depression and death but was beautifully written with stunning imagery. This book is not remotely light hearted in nature but Ransom has made it a work of art.