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From the acclaimed author of the young adult graphic novel Flamer comes a heartwarming adult debut following four gay Asians navigating love, identity, and friendship—a celebration of queer chosen family.
When AJ moves to Seattle in the early aughts, he's ready to reinvent himself as a gay Asian man—but his dreams hit reality fast with no friends, no job, and an apartment so far out, "not even lesbians live there." Then a spilled drink at a bar introduces him to K, a glamorous drag queen; John, a shy gamer; and Steven, a reckless flirt. AJ's "Boy Luck Club" helps him find love, pride, and belonging—until a brutal attack tests everything they know about friendship and family.
Meticulously observed and gorgeously illustrated, Gaysians is a fierce, funny, and tender story of queer resilience and self-discovery.
"The three-dimensional characters and superb plotting draw on both stereotypes and realities associated with Asian Americans and LGBTQIA+ people. The work also includes depictions of sex and features snappy, humorous double-entendres. The excellent, emotionally rich art veers from rich blues into mauves, augmented with triumphal yellows toward the end. Curato's immersive, heartwarming graphic novel is highly recommended." —Library Journal (starred review)
"At first glance, each of Curato's characters may appear as gay stereotypes, but he renders them endearingly flawed and fully three-dimensional. This warmhearted tale of found family will charm and entertain readers, some of whom might want to keep a box of Kleenex handy." —Publishers Weekly
"I've been hunting for books like this my whole life; this story broke my heart and healed it." ―Maia Kobabe, author of Genderqueer
"Gaysians is a beautiful prism of queer Asian/Asian American experience, grounding and groundbreaking. You'll feel seen, called out, held, beloved. I laughed, I cried, I healed a little or a lot—but I'll never forget what this book showed me." ―Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
"A savory feast of heartbreak and joy that proves the old adage that the more specific something is, the more universal it can be. Life is in the details, and Mike Curato is a master at rendering them with life-affirming beauty." ―Steven Rowley, author of The Guncle
This information about Gaysians was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mike Curato is the author and illustrator the children's book series Little Elliot. He has also illustrated What If... by Samantha Berger, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle, Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, The Power of One written by Trudy Ludwig, If I Were a Fish by Corook and Olivia Barton, and contributed to What's Your Favorite Color? by Eric Carle and Friends, Sunny Day: A Celebration of the Sesame Street Theme Song, and Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love. Publishers Weekly named Mike a "Fall 2014 Flying Start." In the same year he won the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Founder's Award. Mike's debut young adult graphic novel, Flamer, was awarded the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Young Adult and the 2021 Massachusetts Book Award for Middle Grade/Young Adult. Gaysians is his adult debut.
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