Name: Latitude Tamarind's review of Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin
Item: Rainbow Rainbow
Rating: 4
Author: Latitude Tamarind

Lydia Conklin

A fearless collection of stories that celebrate the humor, darkness, and depth of emotion of the queer and trans experience that's not typically represented: liminal or uncertain identities, queer conception, and queer joy. In this delightful debut collection of prize-winning stories, queer, gender-nonconforming, and trans characters struggle to find love and forgiveness, despite their sometimes comic, sometimes tragic mistakes. In one story, a young lesbian tries to have a baby with her lover using an unprofessional sperm donor and a high-powered, rainbow-colored cocktail. In another, a fifth-grader explores gender identity by dressing as an ox—instead of a matriarch—for a class Oregon Trail reenactment. Meanwhile a nonbinary person on the eve of top surgery dangerously experiments with an open relationship during the height of the COVID crisis. With insight and compassion, debut author Lydia Conklin takes their readers to a meeting of a queer feminist book club and to a convention for trans teenagers, revealing both the dark and lovable sides of their characters. The stories in Rainbow Rainbow will make you laugh and wince, sometimes at the same time.

Stories

Rainbow Rainbow

Lindsay

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Latitude Tamarind

This is a book of queer short stories; some of them I really enjoyed, some of them I felt kind of weird about. Conklin uses proses like a knife, but the sharpness of the knife depends on the short story. These aren’t like a lot of the queer lit on the marketplace now (which is a good thing!), and some of them are uncomfortable to read. I recommend them, and also I felt weird about them!

This hit, maybe a little bit too much. Lots of moments were a little close to me. Each story very different tone and theme than the last, just moments in queerness. I should really reread this when I'm in the proper headspace.

A collection of stories that celebrate the humour, darkness and depth of emotion of the queer and trans experience that’s not typically represented: liminal or uncertain identities, queer conception and queer joy. In this delightful debut collection of prize-wining stories, queer, gender-nonconforming and trans characters struggle to find love and forgiveness, despite their sometimes comic, sometimes tragic mistakes. In one story, a young lesbian tries to have a baby with her lover using an unprofessional sperm donor and a high-powered, rainbow-coloured cocktail. In another, a fifth-grader explores gender identity by dressing as an ox – instead of a matriarch – for a class Oregon Trail reenactment. Meanwhile a nonbinary person on the eve of top surgery dangerously experiments with an open relationship during the height of the COVID crisis. With insight and compassion, debut author Lydia Conklin takes their readers to a meeting of a queer feminist book club and to a convention for trans teenagers, revealing both the dark and lovable sides of their characters. The stories in Rainbow Rainbow will make you laugh and wince, sometimes at the same time.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin