4 stars
OVERALL: This is a character study of Michael's life, spending most of the book in high school and university. Michael is a poet and he is figuring out his identity and who he wants to be, and starting to pursue how drag makes him feel and allows him to explore different aspects of himself.

I liked following Michael as he grew up, we got to see him as a little kid and even those short scenes sketched a good picture of his home and family life. Both the backdrop but also elements that helped shape who he is; there was a lot of love throughout the whole book for Michael.
I liked hearing about how Michael viewed himself and his process of figuring himself out. The poetry element was interesting and poignant (though not a style I super loved/understood).

For me, the drag component was cool and was not a topic I really knew anything about before going in.... and I still feel like I don't know much about. Based on what I'd heard before, I was expecting drag to be a bigger role of the book. I'd have liked Michael to explore this more and reflect on this more. Maybe for the author to have expanded this portion of the book, as it seemed to be chances for personal growth, but I didn't feel like they had time to bloom and breathe.

I listened to the audiobook (not sure how a 4 hour audio equals 360 pages?) narrated by the author. I feel that in one way, we get the author's true intentions and inflections, but also--not every author is a good narrator. For me, this reading was a bit lackluster, I wanted a bit of a better 'performance'.