incredibly academic and not very accessible honestly! i had a hard time with this one and feel like it had a ton of artistic merit but didnt make for a really enjoyable reading experience. lots of attention required! love the physical form of this book though

I’m so happy I read Blackouts by Justin Torres - a novel I knew I’d love and that won the 2023 National Book Award for fiction in the States!

It plays with form and structure, something I really enjoy when it’s done well. Here, it adds so much poignancy to the books themes - but let me explain more.

The Guardian describes this as a “queer-gothic version of the Hotel California”…which is actually pretty bang on 😂

Tackling real historical figures and events through the eyes of our narrators, Juan and the much younger Nene (a Spanish term of endearment equivalent to ‘baby’), the books central concern is erasure - the very specific erasure of queer voices. In the omission of their histories, in the silence forced by unwarranted shame, Torres pieces together a beautiful, sensory story that takes archival documents and turns them into almost a form poetry, into their own version of a story.

In an institution casually known as The Palace, Juan lays dying. He has spent much of his time interpreting a report known as ‘Sex Varients’ - a real piece of work conducted by queer sociologist Jan Gay. It was made up of dozens of interviews with the queer community, about their lives and desires. But the work was taken over by a team of doctors who changed its tone and purpose, twisting words and medicalising them in ugly ways.

A heavily redacted version of this text, as well as other media like photographs, paintings, articles and so on are interspersed in the book, making for a rich reading experience.

As Juan and Nene swap stories of their lives, we realise Juan has a connection to Jan Gay, and that he is handing his investigation of her work over to Nene, knowing the end of his life is approaching.

Far from being depressing though, I found this book to be a swirling dream; a celebration of body, of touch, of survival, of what it means to be true to oneself. The playful exchanges between the two men, the new ways they find to tell their stories, was unexpected and totally readable.

I loved this book - and would love to see it more widely read outside of America.

"Blackouts" is a raw and visceral exploration of homosexuality, identity, and the complexities of the historical record. Torres masterfully weaves together the lives of diverse characters grappling with their pasts and aspirations for the future. With lyrical prose and unflinching honesty, it's clear why "Blackouts" was awarded the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction. Unforgettable read.

Blackouts is a unique novel that explores mixed media by carefully intertwining photos, poetry, and academic papers. The book focuses on queer history told through erasure poetry. Reading this book felt feverish and messy, like you're trying piece something together. No plot, just vibes.

I am barely smart enough to write a coherent review of Justin Torres' brilliant novel Blackouts, a story that is as much about queer history as it IS queer history. The lives and art of queer folks through the ages are used to tell a surprisingly intimate story about a dying man and his much younger friend/lover at his bedside. It's totally brilliant.

This book is a unique blend of fiction and history. A deathbed conversation between two men--their captivating stories read like scenes in a movie. Juan's stories serve as a primer on hidden queer histories (for the narrator as well as the reader). A surprisingly quick read.

What did I just read? TBH, I am not 100% sure that I can answer that. But I can tell you it was beautifully written, emotional and moving, I loved it, and it was MASTERFULLY structured. This book has layers that would be delicious to peel back and inspect with a book club. I have my own theory about the connection between Juan and the narrator and it sure would be a fun discussion. This book is lovely! It deserves awards and recognition!

Blackouts has a very unique structure and is clearly very beloved, but I never felt engaged with it.

This book is an expanding, archival queer narrative. It folds out and in allowing us to know our inner-realms while look past tropes and easy processing. An essential text of queer loneliness as well. The way Torres writes about the body, yearning, regret, and the past....is absolutely exquisite. This is worthy companion to We the Animals.

Blackouts was an excellent novel that deserves all the praise it's getting. It was a "thinking" book, but I appreciated what Torres was trying to do. I also appreciated the LBGTQ perspective.

"Blackouts" is Justin Torres's latest work, meticulously crafted over more than a decade. The novel unfolds as a poignant conversation between two queer men hailing from different generations, presenting a narrative that transcends conventional forms. Drawing inspiration from oral traditions, the book reframes itself within this context, offering a reclamation and repurposing of the spoken word.

At its core, the novel places the friendship between these two men in the spotlight, their dialogues serving as a form of cultural transmission—a passing of knowledge and experience from one generation to the next. In essence, it serves as a reinterpretation of queer history, dismantling established notions of identity and sexuality while delving into the construction of these concepts.

"Blackouts" emerges as a deeply intertextual piece, where sharp and personal dialogues take centre stage. The narrative exudes a rare blend of generosity and tenderness, creating an exquisite exploration of the complexities of queer existence. The title alludes to the redactions commonly employed in blackout poetry, a technique skillfully woven throughout the volume.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found Blackouts a bit difficult to get into initially, but it was an incredible read. Justin Torres is brilliant!

This book is incredible. I received an advanced reader copy and could not put it down. I will definitely reread it, and the only book I think I’ve ever reread is A Tale of Two Cities (for school). Blackouts is not only disturbingly relevant. It feels right for this time of winter, to me; for this season of heaviness, strife, and war that is happening around us. It is structurally inventive, historically rooted with artistic license, and so deeply felt. If you’re queer, or know a queer/LGBTQ2IA+ adult, and you/they are looking for a bit of a toothy, achey muscle in a good way feeling kind of read to chew on— this is it.

Rich, layered writing. I love the way Torres works with erasure and weaves in real events (Jan Gay! The Sex Variants book!) from LGBT history. Luminous and provocative storytelling. Torres is so damn smart. I wish I'd written this!

This book delves into the lives of real individuals, weaving their experiences into a fictionalized narrative that appears authentic. The story unfolds as a young gay man embarks on a journey to the Palace to reunite with Juan, an older gay man facing his final days. Their connection dates back to a meeting in a mental health facility a decade earlier. As the young man, referred to as "Nene" by Juan, cares for his ailing friend, they exchange life stories.

Luis, the protagonist, is revealed to possess a book about Sexual Deviants, its pages mostly obscured, with only a few words remaining visible. These surviving words, when read together on a page, create a poetic composition. While the book itself is real, the life imagined by the author for one of its researchers, Jan Gay, is entirely fictional. Thus, the narrative unfolds through three distinct life stories, accompanied by photos of the obscured poems and additional, at times explicit, images that subtly suggest the story's authenticity.

At its core, the book highlights the profound friendship between the two men, portraying their conversations as a form of cultural immersion—an exchange of knowledge and experiences. The narrative can be interpreted as a reinterpretation of queer history, challenging historical perspectives on identity and sexuality while exploring the construction of these concepts. Simultaneously, it delves into themes of love, friendship, aging, and family. The dialogue is both sharp and deeply personal, contributing to the nuanced exploration of the characters' lives.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An absolutely stunning and beautiful read. So deserving of all of its recent recognition.
I was so moved by these characters - the story was told with such honesty and beauty. Historical details and visual elements added so much to the story.
This is a book that I will cherish for a long time - a stunning read and highlight of the year,

Blackouts is as ambitious and intelligent as it is raw and dirty. It's a story within a story. At first a mystery within a story then a history within a story. It's about stories and the many different ways people can tell stories (through a scientific study, through blackout poetry, through made up movies, etc.).

I can't really explain the plot of this book, it's one of those literary fictions that's mainly people talking about their lives. But this book is art. It needs to be experienced.

A book that needs more than one reading. Hard to wrap your head around initially, and even harder to describe. It's bold and audacious, although some of its meta/autobiographical qualities feel a bit deflating towards the end. Still, its best moments are quite powerful, and you can't help admiring Torres for trying something unique and personal.

As of November 10, 2023, Justin Torres has been shortlisted for the National Book Award for this dizzying, revelatory, hilarious, and touching, collage of homosexual life, history, and bigotry. Torres has fashioned this examination of how our stories are told, and how we're often erased (blacked out) from the public and popular history. He uses Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns as a way to approach the material, and various erasures from the book’s interview subjects are included within the narrative.

Even within the story of Juan and "Nene," we learn so much about gay history and how that gay history has been suppressed. Torres pays particular attention to the work of Jan Gay whose work on Sex Variants was crucial, but Gay's work was used but not attributed to her. In creating a portrait of Gay, Torres connects this to how Nene and Juan create stories about lives. The novel repeatedly asks the question, "How do we maintain our histories in a world that seeks to silence and legislate us out of existence?"

In the place known as the Palace, Nene and Juan tell versions of their lives (a la Puig's Kiss of the Spiderwoman) as if their lives are films or part of a. They want to be the director/controller of the stories. As Juan grows sicker, his ability to tell a coherent story leaves him, and he tries to put together a mishmash of elements into a personal narrative. The result is heartbreaking and highlights how many gay men and women have left no record of their lives; or their lives have been edited out of society's narrative. Torres's "Blackouts" is a stunning fiction of real-life people and events told through the words and visions of two fictional character who stand in for all the men and women who have been erased from history.

Justin Torres's latest novel, "Blackouts," is nothing short of a revelation. It stands as a contemporary masterpiece that boldly challenges the conventional norms of contemporary literature, pushing the boundaries into the realm of experimental fiction. The narrative takes us to an enigmatic place known as the Palace, where the qualities and location remain undefined. Here, we follow the mental journey of a young queer man, simply referred to as "nene," who tends to a dying friend from his past, Juan Gay. Both nene and Juan are queer, and their poignant connection centers around a unique project: the book "Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns."

This book consists of firsthand accounts collected in the early twentieth century from LGBTQ+ subjects by the queer researcher Jan Gay. The pages of the book are adorned with black marker redactions, obscuring much of the text, but beneath these redactions, the subjects of the study have stories to tell. As Juan Gay waits for the inevitable, he shares some of his own stories with nene and, by extension, the reader, attempting to defiantly resist the erosion of memory and the passage of time.

Justin Torres ingeniously employs text redactions, photographs, and illustrations to dissect the conventions of history and narrative. "Blackouts" goes beyond the boundaries of traditional fiction to reveal the hidden stories, the obscured truths, and the blurred lines between memory and invention.

This is a 5* must read!