My mom recommended this book to me, and I approached it with caution. Despite my gut reaction of disgust (I suspected it would be homophobic), I really did my best to be open and kind when reading it.

Some Positives

1. This book is well written. Jackie Hill Perry is an excellent communicator. The writing is simple, vulnerable, and honest. It draws you into an intimate reading experience.

2. This book is about the author written by the author. Jackie Hill Perry has been in romantic relationships with women. She is not the parent or friend of a lesbian. She’s speaking from her own experiences. Christian writing concerning the LGBTQ community too often comes from straight people.

3. This book is not about a white woman in a white community in the Bible Belt.

4. It takes shots at the American church’s obsession with marriage as the ultimate good, the conversion experience curing every personal issue, and the portrayal of a Christian life as a leisurely walk in the park.

5. Jackie Hill Perry explains that you can’t make someone straight. You can’t choose to opt out of your sexuality, and your sexuality is usually present from childhood.

Negatives (There’s More But I’ll Keep It At Five)

1. Gender roles were glorified. Part of the author’s conversion experience was shopping for feminine clothing at Forever 21 and learning to walk like a woman.

2. The author (at least as far as I could tell) didn’t go to proper therapy for sexual abuse or her father’s abandonment. She went to Christian counseling (which can sometimes do more harm than good). She also doesn’t encourage readers to get proper treatment.

3. Despite saying you won’t be able to pray the gay away, the author tried to. She tried to SO hard she married her best male friend. It’s not clear if she ever became attracted to him.

4. Her husband doesn’t see an issue with marrying a woman that’s not attracted to men. She tells him in an argument while they’re dating that she would rather go back to dating women, and that their relationship is extremely difficult. The next time they see each other he proposes. She accepts.

5. Her husband is supposed to be an example of constancy and love that her father and other men never showed her, but I never got the impression the men in her life ever learned how to respect her wishes. She simply learned how to respect men?

Gay Girl, Good God - Likewise Book Reviews

7 Reviews