Kicked Out by Sassafras Lowrey

Kicked Out Reviews

• 
  Ocean

  this book changed my freakin' life. i was kicked out for being queer too, and i was fortunate to be a legal adult (18!) and fortunate to have friends and a lil' money in my savings account, so i didn't have to go through the fucked up shit a lot of these kids did. but. it still marked me, and i don't know many people who've been through that, and reading this book was like coming home. did you hear me? THIS BOOK *IS* HOME! thank you sassafrass lowrey. you spoke for us, for all of us, and you let us speak. we needed that. thank you.
• 
  Karen

  This was a solid 4-star book, but I added a star because the subject matter is so important: LGBT homeless youth. The contents are primarily stories written by those who have been kicked out of or have run away from hostile home environments (often due to religion or sexual abuse). A handful of pragmatic/academic analyses are included as a counterpoint to the first-person narratives.
  
  For some of the writers, homelessness is a relatively recent experience--for others it is now in their past. Editor Lowrey put together the book ze* wished had been available when ze was first on the streets and needed confirmation that ze was not alone, that ze could survive. And although some of the kids forced to fend for themselves have been tragically lost, others show incredible resilience, banding together to form intentional families and the sanctuary of community.
  
  The book points out that very few urban areas have recognized the need to serve dispossessed LGBT youth by establishing shelters or safehouses; money is tight and public support is often hard to rouse. The homelessness of these kids is but a symptom of a larger and more pervasive cultural problem: we are a society that does not value all people, and somehow there seems to be a tacit belief that parents of LGBT youth are entitled to abdicate their responsibility to love and protect the children they have created. (Such a mindset is, of course, due to a homophobic and transphobic culture.)
  
  The stories are of slightly varying quality, partly due to the editor's conscious decision to leave the accounts in each writer's own words. However, most of the narratives are very impactful--and the idea that young people are left to fend for themselves before they are ready for physical, emotional, and psychological independence should be disturbing to us all. This book is about survival, in all its debasement and its glory.
  
  [* This is the gender-neutral pronoun preferred by Lowrey. Thanks to commenter Levi for encouraging me to correct the pronoun in this review.]
• 
  C.E. G

  Friends - do me a favor and check to see if this book is in your public library system. If not, most libraries have a form to fill out for "suggested additions" to the collection. Request that this book is put on the shelves, because it's one of those books that will be life-changing for someone who needs it.
  
  This anthology is made up of essays written mostly by homeless or formerly homeless queer and trans youth. Many of the essays give advice on how to survive the streets, and I love that a book for this demographic finally exists. Plus, I totally want to gift this to those white wealthy cis gays and lesbians at the head of the "movement" that are so focused on marriage and DADT - I would hope that this book would make them reconsider their priorities.
  
  My only complaint is about the placement of the final essay. It's written by an academic who has never been homeless, and as far as I can tell, doesn't identify as queer or trans. It was disappointing to have a collection that centered the voices of marginalized youth wrapped up by a privileged outsider in the end - it changed the tone and made me question who the book was for. But whatever, the editor still seems awesome, and it was a minor sour note to an overall fantastic anthology.
• 
  Sara

  This was a heart wrenching. While the individual narratives were not always "well written," in the conventional sense (grammar, etc.) they always conveyed the story of the youth who wrote them. The narratives diverse in many ways (race, gender, age, etc.) I dinged the book one star, because I would have preferred fewer of the policy recommendations essays from experts that accompanied the individual narratives.
  
  The last line of the afterward reads, "The one thing I hope you won't do, after reading these compelling stories, is nothing." I'm not sure what I'll do, but I will do something.
  
  P.S. Thanks Mom and Dad for being wonderfully accepting of my sexuality and other quirkiness.
  
  
• 
  Doreen

  I guess I was pretty clueless about the struggles of LGBTQ youth. And whenever I pictured homeless people, I always imagined older, disheveled people, like those I've met on the streets of New York and Cleveland. My eyes have been opened.
  
  This book is a collection of true stories told by gay/lesbian/queer/trans people who have found themselves homeless. Some leave their childhood homes, escaping abuse and persecution. Others are thrown out by parents who are unable and/or unwilling to accept their children and love them, simply because the children aren't heterosexual. Every story is unique, with its own incidents of cruelty, humiliation, and efforts toward a 'cure'. There is a common thread of immediate homelessness and forced independence. The percentage of homeless who are LGBTQ is high in most cities, often representing more than 30% of the homeless population, yet funding for these kids is scarce.
  
  The stories are heart-wrenching; excruciatingly painful for the narrator and the reader. The suffering and discrimination is not being addressed adequately. This is the group that is least likely to be remembered when government funds are being distributed. I learned so much from this book that I hope others will read it and realize that we have to help people, (ALL people), to make our country and our world truly fair and equal for everyone.
• 
  Heba

  An eye opener for sure. The LGBTQ voice has been hijacked by the media as a happy colorful movement with the only struggle being marriage rights, this shows the real struggles of real youth. Great read.
• 
  Jac Buchanan

  I recommend this book (in particular) to writers wanting to learn how to create real suspense, write in a stark style or create realistic backstories or characterizations.
  An absolutely amazing collection of works that will make you laugh, cry, shake in fear and everything in between.
  It is a collection of non-fiction stories from members of the LGBT+ community, who each came from and ended up in diverse situations - yet all walking a path shadowed by their society, and protected by each other.
  Notably, Philip J. Reeves's My New Nuclear Family: Surviving the Fallout was the inspiration for the writing style used in Accidental Prostitute, in terms of its stark nature. It's one of my favourite stories in the book, and is an excellent study on how to create suspense. Reeves does so without describing how the character is feeling. The experience is so naked, such information would be irrelevant. I was completely engrossed.
  I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
• 
  Amy

  I think my only criticism is that this book isn't long enough! I wanted to hear more stories from street kids. I really appreciated Lowrey's introduction in which zie says that zie can't say the book will fix everything or that everything will be OK but just let others know that they are not alone. The academic essays were less interesting but relevant especially since this books means to speak to street kids AND outreach professionals. It was an editorial decision to mix them in with the stories instead of putting them in an a separate section; I feel mixed about that. At first, I thought they should have been in their own "clinical essay" section but then I realized I'd probably have skipped that section in toto. So it's probably a good thing that they were mixed in and I read them as I went along - kudos to the editor for structuring hir anthology so as to push me to read the boring-er bits. One odd observation - for a book targeted toward street kids, it's huge size-wise (about 8.5" x 11") - that seems like it could be a pain to carry around. When it prints again, I'd suggest maybe something more pocket-sized.
• 
  RJ

  This anthology is everything it sets out to be. The writing is never too dense, but the contributors don't hold back. It reminds me of Kate Bornstein's "Hello Cruel World" in its accessibility and honesty. I imagine it can and will be an important touchstone for homeless LGBT youth trying to find resources at a library, but it's worth picking up no matter what walk of life you're in.
• 
  May

  I am not sure what to say about this book that would be adequate. Featuring first-hand accounts of what it's like to lose your home and your family when you're a queer young person, juxtaposed with the narratives of people currently working in programs/shelters geared toward homeless LGBTQ youth, it's a very powerful look at a world that many of us maybe don't know very much about.
• 
  Rachel

  First hand accounts in a variety of formats of teens who were kicked out of their homes for being gay. Should be required in every public library and young adult collection.
• 
  Alicia

  Not as cohesive as I would have liked to be keep my interest OR it needed more narrative to help me through each chapter to understand fully the piece and its intent.
• 
  PFLAG Lenawee

  Great resource!
• 
  Jess

  This book is a collection of heartbreaking and hopeful stories by teens who have experienced homelessness in the past and/or were experiencing homelessness at the time of publication. The stories are told in a variety of formats: poems, narratives, free flow verse, etc. Some teens center on the details of leaving their former homes, some leave those details virtually untouched and focus on other aspects of their lives. Ten years after publication, these stories mirror the violence currently enacted on LGBTQ+ youth by their families today. I think today's teens would see themselves in these stories, but this book is not likely to get picked up by browsing library patrons. The cover doesn't do this book any favors, and the text makes this book feel much older than it is. With a bit of a revamp in aesthetics, this could be an excellent display book and symbol of safety for LGBTQ+ youth patrons experiencing homelessness.
• 
  C.K. Combs

  Heartbreaking. Truthful. Gut punch. Relatable. These kids are the kids I grew up with who didn’t have the home life I did. And the youth I worked with through Pizza Klatch and the friends of my own trans child.
  
  Not a one of them should have had to leave their homes of birth. That they did is a testament to their desire to survive and thrive.