I've been waiting for this book to drop since I finished don't cry for me, not even knowing if he was going to do a response or not . firstly Daniel Black is an auto buy for me, he has not missed yet and Isaac's song is no different . From page one I am emerged into Isaac's upbringing and how he's currently dealing with it now. I ugly cried several times in this book and the most beautiful thing about it was Isaac's willingness to do the work to heal and forgive.

5/5

What a beautiful, heartwrenching, and multi-layered story! Isaac's Song is a compelling and haunting story about finding oneself, loving oneself, and forgiveness. It is also a hard story at times, dealing with racism, homophobia, generational/parental trauma and complicated relationships. I absolutely loved reading Isaac's poems and short stories and the vivid descriptions of how he constructed his characters and how they manifested for him and the reader.

I finished this in one sitting, and it will stay with me for a long time.

This was an incredibly raw story, and I will recommend it to everyone I know.

Thank you to NG and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful and heartbreaking novel about the complicated relationships that often exist between a gay son and his father. As a foil to Daniel Black’s previous novel Don’t Cry for Me, we follow Isaac, a gay man, as he confronts his complicated relationship with his now deceased father. In therapy, Isaac relives memories from childhood through adulthood, reflecting on how he never felt free to be himself as a gay person. He grapples with his father’s expectations and homophobia, trying to understand his father and his life experiences, but struggling to come to terms with his own culpability in their relationship and the idea that his father was his own person and had his own history and story. There’s commentary on racism, internalized homophobia, religious trauma, generational trauma, parental expectations, and gay culture. The conversations were nuanced but plainly written and understood. I found this so moving and beautiful. 10/10.