LGBTQ Literature | SuperSummary

Jacqueline Woodson’s 2019 Red at the Bone is a work of fiction that centers on the coming together of two dissimilar families because of a teen pregnancy. Highly acclaimed and award-winning author Woodson offers a counternarrative to the familiar tale of teenage pregnancy while considering how identity intersects with class, race, sexuality, gender, and history. This study guide was created with the aid of the Riverhead Books 2019 hardback edition.Plot SummaryThe novel opens 80 years... Read Red at the Bone Summary

Redefining Realness

by Janet Mock

Publication year 2014

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Truth & Lies

Tags LGBTQ+, Race & Racism, Gender & Feminism, Biography

Redefining Realness is the 2014 memoir of Janet Mock, the editor of People.com who came out in 2011 as a trans woman via a Marie Claire profile. The book is a work of creative nonfiction, chronicling Mock’s trajectory from a lonely and unhappy child who does not feel understood to a fiercely independent and self-motivated young adult. Since her disclosure in 2011, Mock has become a prominent trans advocate who people respect for her honesty... Read Redefining Realness Summary

Red, White, and Royal Blue

by Casey McQuiston

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love

Tags LGBTQ+, Romance, Modern Classic Fiction

Red, White & Royal Blue is the debut novel of author Casey McQuiston. When first published in May of 2019, it created an immediate sensation and rose to the top of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists and earned awards from NPR, Kirkus, Library Journal, and others.Red, White & Royal Blue is the story of a gay romance between FSOTUS (First Son of the United States) Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry, a... Read Red, White, and Royal Blue Summary

Redwood and Ponytail

by K. A. Holt

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Daughters & Sons, Mothers, Friendship

Tags LGBTQ+, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read Redwood and Ponytail Summary

Reflections in a Golden Eye

by Carson McCullers

Publication year 1941

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Sexual Identity, Mental Health

Tags Southern Gothic, LGBTQ+, Love & Sexuality, American Literature, Southern Literature, Classic Fiction

Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), Carson McCullers’s second novel, is set at an American Southern army base during the 1930s and portrays the lives of six interconnected people who are alienated from themselves and the world in different ways. Though the story involves murder, voyeurism, sadism, self-mutilation, and repressed gay desire, it examines these topics through the filter of quotidian domestic life. Reflections in a Golden Eye is one of the few works of... Read Reflections in a Golden Eye Summary

Rent

by Jonathan Larson

Publication year 1996

Genre Play, Fiction

Tags Poverty, LGBTQ+, Dramatic Literature, Music, Romance

Jonathan Larson, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics, began working on the American rock opera Rent in 1989, when playwright Billy Aronson sought a collaborator for an adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème (1896) set in contemporary New York City. Later, Larson completed the project on his own with Aronson’s blessing and credited him for his contributions.Rent was an immediate hit, lauded for broaching the issue of HIV/AIDS, depicting LGBTQ+ identities, and including... Read Rent Summary

Rick

by Alex Gino

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age

Tags Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read Rick Summary

Running With Scissors

by Augusten Burroughs

Publication year 2002

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Sexual Identity, Perseverance

Tags LGBTQ+, Mental Illness, Humor, Psychology, Psychology, Biography

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs was first published in 2002 as a memoir. After several of the figures it features sued for defamation and dishonesty of its claims, however, it was recategorized as a book. It can also be classified as a bildungsroman since it follows the adolescent growth of its narrator and protagonist. Running with Scissors was adapted into a feature film in 2006.Other works by this author include Dry and A Wolf... Read Running With Scissors Summary