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In a small Texas town, Brent comes out to his parents, and on that night his place in the world cracks wide open. Unmoored from his family but unwilling to give up on his dream, Brent enters the Peace Corps with the incredible task of navigating an unfamiliar land, a new language, and a new identity as a gay man in post-Soviet Armenia.
As he grapples with a religious past and a queer future, Brent finds himself immersed in a culture he’d never imagined. He moves in with Armenian families, celebrates his first Nor Tari, hunts mushrooms in the mountain mists, and dances in Yerevan at his first gay bar, all while hoping for and trying to find romance, even love. When his Peace Corps commitment begins to take unexpected turns, Brent must decide what matters to him most and where he thinks he belongs.
As he grapples with a religious past and a queer future, Brent finds himself immersed in a culture he’d never imagined. He moves in with Armenian families, celebrates his first Nor Tari, hunts mushrooms in the mountain mists, and dances in Yerevan at his first gay bar, all while hoping for and trying to find romance, even love. When his Peace Corps commitment begins to take unexpected turns, Brent must decide what matters to him most and where he thinks he belongs.
454 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2024
3 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 20, 2024
I love great books. And as I read this for the twelfth or thirteenth time… after all my final edits, I felt simply very, very proud. This book is for anyone who has ever had to be true to themselves in a way that terrified them… and through the fear they did it anyway. And this book is for the young queer kid I was who needed a book like this one.
And if you’re reading this review right now… this book is for you, too. ❤️❤️❤️
And if you’re reading this review right now… this book is for you, too. ❤️❤️❤️
August 11, 2024
Beautifully written!
July 30, 2024
What an incredible book. I truly didn’t want to put it down. Brent did such a beautiful job taking us through coming out, navigating a new culture and language, learning relationships in a new and expansive way. From one gay ex-church kid to another: thank you for writing this, Brent. Please keep writing.
June 10, 2024
4.5: This compelling, fast-paced, and moving memoir can teach us so much about Armenia, the meaning of family in all its forms (blood, chosen, found), and the power of queer self-discovery. The author’s captivating storytelling made this book difficult to put down, and the beautiful relationships and realizations formed within its pages made it stick with me long after I finished reading.
August 27, 2024
The author's first book but I hope not the last! The way he describes his experiences of going through tough challenges, how beautifully he connects, I'd say waives the people, things and big and small incidents into the big picture of his life, brilliant!
October 1, 2025
Lackluster and lifeless two-year period where the gay author comes out to his parents, three days later goes to Armenia for the Peace Corps, then finally on page 295 meets his only sexual partner, and by the end (around page 420!) they break up, with the author discovering he caught an STD.
That's the story. It's verbose, poorly written, injected with unnecessary flashbacks, and not even close to being worthy of over 400 pages! The rest of it contains dull details about learning the language, going to gay bars in a foreign country, hanging out with other LGBTQ Peace Corps volunteers, and how the author "grow ups" after the tragedy of his parents saying they "have to love you from afar" when he rejects his Christian faith by choosing to come out.
The big question after reading this mess is--why does anyone have to "come out" about their sexual preferences or bedroom choices? He brings upon himself his own struggles by doing so (which he admits, he wishes he would have never done), and there is no large-scale parallel in the heterosexual universe for the similar need to profess your bedroom preferences in order to feel acceptance. Straight people sleep around as much as they want, cheat on partners, be ENM, and never march in the street to make sure the universe knows about it. They find comfort and strength in their privacy. But for some reason there's a compulsion among homosexuals to shout their sleeping arrangements from the rooftop to make themselves feel accepted and seen. Yet in doing so they may cause the very unsettling inner problems they want to avoid.
I'm not saying a person should be "in the closet" (a phrase any person could use to simply mean his or her private life). Live your life as you want but be aware that how you live impacts others. Living requires compromises and thinking about someone other than yourself. The irony here is that this guy, who goes across the ocean to try to serve in another culture, spends most of the book ruminating on his selfish desires to get others to change in order for himself to feel accepted. If you truly accept yourself, you don't need to try to force others to be something they're not.
The author never seems comfortable nor feels accepted (until the boyfriend/lover, who turns around and rejects Love!). As much as Brent tries to subtly slam his parents, Christianity, and backwards people in other countries, in truth most of those showed him a whole love of love despite his feeling the need to separate himself from them!
Yes, he is responsible for his own choices, putting up a wall that was unnecessary to live a new adventurous lifestyle. The lesson from this isn't that some in society will reject you, it's that no matter how much you want to get the attention or support of others you're always chancing danger and a lack of internal satisfaction when you choose to leap.
That's the story. It's verbose, poorly written, injected with unnecessary flashbacks, and not even close to being worthy of over 400 pages! The rest of it contains dull details about learning the language, going to gay bars in a foreign country, hanging out with other LGBTQ Peace Corps volunteers, and how the author "grow ups" after the tragedy of his parents saying they "have to love you from afar" when he rejects his Christian faith by choosing to come out.
The big question after reading this mess is--why does anyone have to "come out" about their sexual preferences or bedroom choices? He brings upon himself his own struggles by doing so (which he admits, he wishes he would have never done), and there is no large-scale parallel in the heterosexual universe for the similar need to profess your bedroom preferences in order to feel acceptance. Straight people sleep around as much as they want, cheat on partners, be ENM, and never march in the street to make sure the universe knows about it. They find comfort and strength in their privacy. But for some reason there's a compulsion among homosexuals to shout their sleeping arrangements from the rooftop to make themselves feel accepted and seen. Yet in doing so they may cause the very unsettling inner problems they want to avoid.
I'm not saying a person should be "in the closet" (a phrase any person could use to simply mean his or her private life). Live your life as you want but be aware that how you live impacts others. Living requires compromises and thinking about someone other than yourself. The irony here is that this guy, who goes across the ocean to try to serve in another culture, spends most of the book ruminating on his selfish desires to get others to change in order for himself to feel accepted. If you truly accept yourself, you don't need to try to force others to be something they're not.
The author never seems comfortable nor feels accepted (until the boyfriend/lover, who turns around and rejects Love!). As much as Brent tries to subtly slam his parents, Christianity, and backwards people in other countries, in truth most of those showed him a whole love of love despite his feeling the need to separate himself from them!
Yes, he is responsible for his own choices, putting up a wall that was unnecessary to live a new adventurous lifestyle. The lesson from this isn't that some in society will reject you, it's that no matter how much you want to get the attention or support of others you're always chancing danger and a lack of internal satisfaction when you choose to leap.
June 30, 2024
A delightful story about a gay man coming out to his tight-knit Christian family, and then leaving for Armenia a few days later to work in the Peace Corps. The book delves into found family, the importance of friendship, and finding and loving yourself when you are all that you have. I barked out laughter at some points (cowboy boots) and teared up at many others. A wonderful debut.
July 24, 2024
I had a hard time sleeping while I was reading this. I was so caught up and engaged that it was keeping me awake. I didn’t want to put it down. There are themes around coming out, living abroad, making community, and family dynamics. For Brent, these were all happening at once while going to Armenia for the Peace Corps. I also kept wanting to talk to him throughout the book. You might want to grab a copy of the book along with a friend and read it together. I don’t doubt that you will find yourself relating to his experiences in some way. Another amazing read this year. Run out and get this book!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews