The Black Flamingo: A Poignant Coming-of-Age Novel about Identity, Drag Culture, and Self-Discovery in London

You have the right to be you.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍." 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕠 - Dᴱᴬᴺ Aᵀᵀᴬ ⭐ ( 8.5 / 10 ) I truly don't know how I got to deciding 4 of 5 stars. I've been done with this book since last week and I couldn't figure it out. For me, the story in it's whole is cute, BUT it's not for me. I don't know if that makes sense. I'm around people like this often. When I say people like this, I mean Michael and I mean the intolerant and the tolerant. I feel like regardless of my background I grew up not giving a damn about someone's origin and how they live their lives or who they spend it with. I've been the person that you were who you were and that's that. If you SAID "I'm not -insert orientation- whether I thought you were or not as far as I was concerned you were whatever you said until anything else came out of your mind. Why?! Because it doesn't concern me. I don't care if your religious or not if you're some type of minority if you have the AUDACITY to judge anyone else you're no better than the people judging and acting terribly toward you. I don't get why that's hard for people to understand. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Anyway, for the judging, like I said. I wasn't sure, because for me. I already live by and feel the way the author wants you to feel. I have straight friends, gay friends, drag friends, whatever friends. So for me, it's a two star. Because it's kind of... Duh! However! There are I don't know how many people that are out in the world that don't realize that they need this Drag Michael in their life. To watch him grow from a baby who knows what he wants so confidently, to someone who's a little ashamed because of society, to whatever the hell he feels in his heart so strongly. Let people be them. And if you have issues with letting people be theirselves, pick up the book. It's good. 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕔 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝘑𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘖𝘶𝘵

OMG amazing! love the poems through out and the writing style.

Lovely affirmation of identity, written in verse. This YA novel tells the story of Mikey, a gay boy born to a Greek mom and Jamaican (&absent) dad, living in London. E witness his mom’s acceptance of his differences, his first crush, school trauma s and college life. It’s a wonderful story of embracing your unique identity. Delightful.

It’s a good book if you like poems. But very short and sweet with 300+ pages