Ziggy, Stardust and Me

What a story!

Ziggy Stardust and Me is a book that makes you feel and feel deeply over many things and I was left contemplating many things about it namely; how are we facing the same awful abuse the protagonist Johnathan feels in 1973 now in 2022? This is an incredible debut by James Brandon and a book that will stay with you and one I think will find its way to many shelves of young adult LGBTQ+ readers (and older because whyever not?)

I do find that I need to say that although It may well be a LGBTQ+ book, this is one that should be read by anyone who is drawn to it because despite being fiction; there is so much to be learnt from it because Johnathan and Web's time in 1973. Whether that be how terrible it must have been to know that you are gay and yet, to be told that you (at very best) should be imprisoned and possibly face electro-shock treatment or be dead because how you are born; who you truly are is seen wrong in the eyes of the many. Or how inbred racism towards Indigenous Americans, (please forgive me if the term is incorrect - I googled what it the correct term but I'm aware it's not always accurate; please correct me if it's required) that Web and his family face which honestly made me take pause so that I made myself calm and remind myself that this book is set nearly 50 years ago.

Ziggy Stardust and Me is raw and it is profound, a book that lingers long after you have read the final word and I am so very glad that curiosity got the better of me. It's a book that made me laugh, and aww and how lovely Johnathan and Web are, it made me so very very angry at those whose roles are to guide and to support because it is just SO wrong how they do it. I loved Johnathan's best friend and how fiery she is and how you can feel the love they have for one another in their interactions. Everyone needs a friend who is a warrior in their corner and will always be there for them and Starla is so utterly wonderful I wish you could step into a book and know these fictional people and in the case of this amazing young woman; march alongside her as she fights for so many of the rights that are now in danger or are in law now within the US.

James Brandon wonderfully highlights a time in Americn history that is unlike any other, with the chaos Nixon brought to the nation, American soldiers fighting in Vietnam and coming home to a country that wasn't ready to see so many broken men and the damage war would do to their psyche (which is evident in the way Johnathan's father who is a vet, behaves both with his alcoholism and demands of his son to be more 'manly' - I did try not eye roll but I'm sorry it still happened.) among many other things that made America in the seventies both a hard time and one of great change for so many. From the perspective of a non-American it was extremely eye opening and Brandon successfully makes what you read feel like you are witnessing firsthand and it being real.

It is incredible. It is beautifully written and I strongly suggest you keep tissues on stand by because you will feel tears fall for these two boys and how their lives are so difficult to actually live.