I loved reading this book, not so much because of the analysis of James Baldwin but because it felt personal, like witnessing a student talking with a mentor. It’s one of those academic books disguised as a warm, digestible memoir.

I admit that I don’t love everything that James Baldwin did or wrote, but I deeply admire his unbounded courage and outspokenness, especially as a Black gay man in the 20th Century. Because there was nothing easy about being Black and gay in the 20th Century. Not. A. D*mn. Thing.