Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land
by Taylor Brorby
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"From a young, gay environmentalist, a searing coming-of-age memoir set against the arid landscape of rural North Dakota, where homosexuality "seems akin to a ticking bomb." "I am a child of the American West, a landscape so rich and wide that my culture trembles with terror before its power." So begins Taylor Brorby's Boys and Oil, a haunting, bracingly honest memoir about growing up gay amidst the harshness of rural North Dakota, "a place where there is no safety in a ravaged landscape of show more mining and fracking." In visceral prose, Brorby recounts his upbringing in the coalfields; his adolescent infatuation with books; and how he felt intrinsically different from other boys. Now an environmentalist, Brorby uses the destruction of large swathes of the West as a metaphor for the terror he experienced as a youth. From an assault outside a bar in an oil boom town to a furtive romance, and from his awakening as an activist to his arrest at the Dakota Access Pipeline, Boys and Oil provides a startling portrait of an America that persists despite well-intentioned legal protections"-- show lessTags
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Member Reviews
if you've never read a LGTBQ+ memoir this one is as good as any to start with. It covers the typical trials and tribulations of growing up gay in small town, rural America: being bullied in school, fear of being discovered, repeated attempts to conform, rejection by family, moving away to find acceptance, coming to terms with being gay and all that that means.
Taylor Brorby comes into his own as he becomes an environmental activist in the midst of the North Dakota oil boom. His love of and descriptions of the prairie landscape are not just beautiful but enlightening. The growth and survival of the prairie is an effective metaphor for coming of age on the great plains. The violent destruction of the prairie by strip mining and fracking show more plays well against the threat of physical violence and the need to conform to heteronormative stereotypes. Brorby has to stay low and hidden to avoid the violence that surrounds him. show less
Taylor Brorby comes into his own as he becomes an environmental activist in the midst of the North Dakota oil boom. His love of and descriptions of the prairie landscape are not just beautiful but enlightening. The growth and survival of the prairie is an effective metaphor for coming of age on the great plains. The violent destruction of the prairie by strip mining and fracking show more plays well against the threat of physical violence and the need to conform to heteronormative stereotypes. Brorby has to stay low and hidden to avoid the violence that surrounds him. show less
I read Boys and Oil on recommendation by a local South Carolina author, George Singleton. He warned there would be fly fishing referenced in the book, in case that would put someone off, but he truly thought this book was worthwhile. After reading, I agree.
There was fly fishing, as well as descriptive text about North Dakota, but that did not put me off at all because it was well written. There was more about the life of the author, Taylor Brorby,. From his realization that he was gay and the fear of being "found out" prior to his coming out was revealing and, at times, heartbreaking, as was the lack of acceptance by his parents.
Boys and Oil enlightened me in so many ways. I thank Taylor Brorby for being so open in sharing his life show more with the world. show less
There was fly fishing, as well as descriptive text about North Dakota, but that did not put me off at all because it was well written. There was more about the life of the author, Taylor Brorby,. From his realization that he was gay and the fear of being "found out" prior to his coming out was revealing and, at times, heartbreaking, as was the lack of acceptance by his parents.
Boys and Oil enlightened me in so many ways. I thank Taylor Brorby for being so open in sharing his life show more with the world. show less
Even though this contained more nature and sports refereences than I was interested in, Brorby also presented his life experiences and pain very well. I was so sorry to read of his parents' and others' reactions to him, and wish the world looked more hopeful and understanding at this time. Brorby was brave to share this much of himself.
Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land by Taylor Brorby is a glorious memoir with jaw dropping poetic language. Taylor’s unique take on the mid-west gives a rich texture to this monumental work
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Sexuality & Gender
160 works; 3 members
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3+ Works 95 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Epigraph
- There's a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
--STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Families are a thin skin quickly shed once flight from
the prison of home became possible. . . . I am not about
closure. I am about reopening wounds and slashing
through the scar tissue to the place where the drea... (show all)ms
sleep and wait to come back to life.
--CHARLES BOWDEN - Dedication
- For Tanya and Kirsten
- First words
- [Prologue] Before it was an ocean of grasses, the prairie was a shallow sea.
Center is a place where people only end up.
[Coda] To finish this story--for a beginning begets an ending--we must return to where we started: the wide, shallow sea. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)[Prologue] The middle of what would become the North American continent was bulldozed and reshaped into a vast, open plain.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Like a grain of sand pushed by the current, my life has meandered, slowly shifted farther downstream, where it inches toward a new beginning as I continue to search for the deep current, to find the place where I am meant to be.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)[Coda] Deep underground, unless we can act with the most extraordinary measure, we'll complete the story of a land that is fractured with the destruction of every living thing.
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies, Science & Nature, LGBTQ+, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 306.76 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social Behavior - Dating, Marriage, Divorce Sexual relations Sexual orientation, transgender identity, intersexuality
- LCC
- HQ75.8 .B74 .A3 — Social sciences The family. Marriage, Women and Sexuality The Family. Marriage. Women Sexual life Homosexuality. Lesbianism
- BISAC
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- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.06)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
