A searing meditation on identity and place, Boys and Oil captured my heart and opened my eyes. My husband is from North Dakota, and I thought I understood what it meant to have grown up in that state, but Taylor Brorby’s memoir showed me a different perspective. His writing on place is some of the most evocative I’ve read since Terry Tempest Williams; his love for his home state is evident despite the pain of growing up gay in a community that didn’t understand or welcome him. An important book and a must-read!
Boys and Oil by Taylor Brorby, (List Price: $27.95, Liveright, 9781324090861, June 2022)
Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina