The Black Flamingo

by Dean Atta

Genres: Verse Novel, Poetry, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Rating:

Synopsis:

Michael is a mixed-race gay teen growing up in London. All his life, he's navigated what it means to be Greek-Cypriot and Jamaican--but never quite feeling Greek or Black enough.

As he gets older, Michael's coming out is only the start of learning who he is and where he fits in. When he discovers the Drag Society, he finally finds where he belongs--and the Black Flamingo is born.

Told with raw honesty, insight, and lyricism, this debut explores the layers of identity that make us who we are--and allow us to shine.

I’m not a big one for YA or for verse novels, in general, but I decided to give Dean Atta’s The Black Flamingo a try after discussing verse novels semi-recently on my blog as part of the Let’s Talk Bookish discussion linkup. I remember hearing a lot about it when it first came out, because it’s basically a British queer coming of age story informed by the author’s Jamaican and Greek Cypriot descent.

The verse part… I’m kinda shrug about it as poetry, in and of itself, but it works well to distill the story down to key moments and feelings, rather than lingering on details that ultimately don’t matter. It makes the coming of age themes and the teenage messiness a lot more palatable for someone who remembers being a teen and had quite enough of it, thank you: it condenses everything down and only lingers on what’s really meaningful.

As an evocation of black/mixed (this is the term the character uses, to be clear) identity, and of growing into queerness and experimenting with drag as a way of learning to really break out and express all that, it works well. The character’s path to that point makes a lot of sense, you can feel the emotional arc toward it, and the confused/confusing emotions and thoughts come across well through the verse format.

Overall, it’s still not my thing exactly, but I’m glad I gave it the time and enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend it more to those interested in YA and verse novels.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)