BOOKS: Boy Erased

Often it works well to see the movie first and then read the book, as a book has scope to describe so much more, especially what’s going on inside people’s heads. Boy Erased was absolutely such a book. I really enjoyed the film, but I also left with some unsatisfied curiosity about his internal journey of self-understanding. The film showed us what it was like to suffer through the fraudulent travesty that is “ex-gay ministry”. The book filled in more, not only of that experience, but of what it was like to grow up a boy in a close faith community, and by coming out as gay, lose not only his community but his faith. His account was impressionistic, not strictly following a timeline, but a chain of memories and reflections in a stream of consciousness. It was an emotionally faithful way to convey the sense of someone whose life picture was shattered, and he’s picking up the pieces and trying to make sense of how they might fit together again. Many of these memories he’s undoubtedly replayed countless times in his head, sometimes reinterpreting old things in new ways. I’m glad he had the integrity to get through it and tell this remarkable story.