Name: Ziggy, Stardust and Me
Rating: 4.241379310344827 (29 reviews)
ISBN: 9780525517641

James Brandon

"Set against the tumultuous backdrop of life in 1973, when homosexuality is still considered a mental illness, two boys defy all the odds and fall in love"--

Ziggy, Stardust and Me

Brianna

“I hope one day we’ll all see each other without these stupid labels and instead see each other for who we really are. Starfolk.”

Ziggy, Stardust & Me is a story of first loves and broken hearts. It’s navigating negatives and tying strings to thoughts. It’s superpowers and kryptonite and flying through space only to come crashing back down to Earth.
It’s bending until you break, but the broken pieces of you are stardust
and you are made more beautiful.

Simply put,
It’ll take you to the the moon.
I’ll meet you there.

mia ¿

this was a great note to end the year on!

i bought this book last summer but kept putting off reading it for some reason, and in that time i think my expectations grew quite a bit. but thankfully, this book still lived up to all my expectations! it was as atmospheric and dreamy as the cover is, while still talking about real issues with the weight they deserve. and it was a ya book that didn't over-explain things, which is more difficult to find nowadays. it was historical fiction but the characters and their actions felt so real i kinda forgot about this aspect at some parts, which in my opinion is good because it means the story is just that realistic. also, there was a great author's note at the end.

criminally underrated queer coming of age book. more people need to read it. 5/5 stars.

In this tender-hearted debut, set against the tumultuous backdrop of life in 1973, when homosexuality is still considered a mental illness, two boys defy all the odds and fall in love. The year is 1973. The Watergate hearings are in full swing. The Vietnam War is still raging. And homosexuality is still officially considered a mental illness. In the midst of these trying times is sixteen-year-old Jonathan Collins, a bullied, anxious, asthmatic kid, who aside from an alcoholic father and his sympathetic neighbor and friend Starla, is completely alone. To cope, Jonathan escapes to the safe haven of his imagination, where his hero David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and dead relatives, including his mother, guide him through the rough terrain of his life. In his alternate reality, Jonathan can be anything: a superhero, an astronaut, Ziggy Stardust, himself, or completely "normal" and not a boy who likes other boys. When he completes his treatments, he will be normal--at least he hopes. But before that can happen, Web stumbles into his life. Web is everything Jonathan wishes he could be: fearless, fearsome and, most importantly, not ashamed of being gay. Jonathan doesn't want to like brooding Web, who has secrets all his own. Jonathan wants nothing more than to be "fixed" once and for all. But he's drawn to Web anyway. Web is the first person in the real world to see Jonathan completely and think he's perfect. Web is a kind of escape Jonathan has never known. For the first time in his life, he may finally feel free enough to love and accept himself as he is. A poignant coming-of-age tale, Ziggy, Stardust and Me heralds the arrival of a stunning and important new voice in YA.

Ziggy, Stardust and Me

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