This is the first full-on LGBTQ+ book that I have read. I have read Binge by Tyler Oakley but that was more towards the autobiographical side than this one. What We Left Behind by Robin Talley is the novel about the coming age.
I can say that because it’s 2016 and people all around are world are finally starting to understand the LGBTQ+ community. Considering the fact that this community is vast, it is really hard for anyone to fully understand it. Hence, in order to efficiently understand this, people need education in the easiest way possible. Robin Talley’s book definitely expanded my horizons about these issues. I won’t say I am an expert now, but I have a broader perspective on LQBTQ+ people in general.
This book is initially a high school love story of a couple, Toni and Gretchen, who are leaving for college. They end up in different cities which is obviously hard for both of them. However, they want their relationship to work, so they try and they are pretty good at it at first.
But, as they go separate ways, Toni joins a community at Harvard where she is introduced to people with different sexualities. Somehow that makes her wonder who she is. She makes new friends who explain to her a lot about different sexualities. She gets so absorbed in figuring who she is that she starts neglecting her girlfriend, hiding things from her and lying, which weakens their relationship. Gretchen on the other hand is suffering equally; with Toni not around she doesn’t know who she is. She had always defined herself based on her relationship which is scary for her. Very soon, things are not so simple anymore.
The manner in which Talley portrays Toni and Gretchen’s relationship highlights common struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Toni’s constant struggles to identify who she really is makes the reader realise that people don’t have it easy. And Gretchen, who struggles to keep up with her girlfriend, makes readers realise the importance of knowing yourself and how hard it is when relationships change. If her girlfriend decides to be a boy, what does that make her?
Toni and Gretchen’s relationship is complicated at a whole new level. However, between all these dramas I, as a reader, was exposed to a whole new world and I learnt so much about this community. I think if someone is trying to understand what it is like in the LGTBTQ+ community and the struggles involved they should really read this book.
My only complaint against this book is that I wanted a better ending; I wanted to understand Toni’s decision. Overall, this book will take you places. It will expose you to a whole new world and it will make you look at the world with a broader perspective.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
