Nevertheless it is a beautifully tender story of finding oneself and one's voice, becoming empowered, the bond between a mother and her son, and growing up in a society that still seems to struggle with accepting different and diverse sexual/gender identities.
Saeed is a poet and writer, winner of a number literary awards, and pretty high profile for a poet. It follows that his memoir is beautifully written, enormous sensitivity and visual writing. His childhood was not easy but the love of his mother and other women in her family was the glue that held the boy together, his talent for writing spotted early on. Children in schools here are told to use their words rather than to use their fists in dealing with confrontation in the play ground, class room, the home. Here that mantra has a force of its own. He would be well entitled to rage at the society around him, find ways to feel sorry for himself, to battle with violence and vehemence. But he doesn't. He writes about it instead. He is a troubled young lad at various times in this story, but he always seems to find his way back to how it feels to be loved by his family and so survives.
Many readers will find this quite graphic and over the top in his descriptions of sexual encounters, how he finds himself as a gay man, how he talks of his body as a weapon. But if you grow up thinking that how you are is not what is expected or desired in the majority of society, then you may well turn your body and your words into weapons to fight that. I didn't find it offensive, but I can see how others would.
You can't get past the language, the style of writing, the love that oozes from the pages, the search for self discovery. This really is a stunning and memorable memoir. I have since thanked my sister for her unusual choice! I may not be the target audience, but for a story of personal development, growth and self love, this is a story for anyone to read and get something out of - a very human story.
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