I requested this audiobook, not realizing it was for a graphic novel. A lot was lost in the audio and the story didn't transfer as well without the art. I ended up waiting for the graphic novel to be released so I could grasp the whole story.

Michael Curato's Gaysians is a graphic novel... which I didn't realize till I was part way through the audio edition! I feel like I missed out a bit, but the narrators do an amazing job bringing this wild, heartfelt tale to life.

Performed by Mike Curato, Nicky Endres, Earl T. Kim, Dustin Vuong Nguyen, Shawn K. Jain, Telly Leung, Greg D. Barnett, Katrina Reese Curato, Dara Brown, and Susan Moon - this cast deserves a huge round of applause.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

Gaysians is a warm, emotional ride that balances humor and heartbreak in all the right ways. AJ’s journey from lonely new guy to finding his chosen family had me totally hooked. I loved the representation—it felt real and layered, not just a box to check—and the audio format brought the characters to life in such a unique way. The story takes a darker turn than I expected, but it handled it with care. A great listen overall—funny, fierce, and full of heart.

As a gay Asian reader, this is truly Sex and the City for me. Focusing on four gay Asians in 2000s Seattle, this graphic novel portrays the friend group exploring sex, love, and community. I relate to the microaggressions, social commentaries, and traumas mentioned throughout that felt relevant to today. Each of the main characters had their own unique backstory, navigating their own complicated relationships with friends and family, that made them feel more human outside the page. I thoroughly enjoy the diverse representation among the friend group, ranging from East to Southeast Asians, that demystifies Asian American culture as monolithic. Each character's journeys and struggles adds how multi-faceted the queer Asian American identity is constructed.

I have never come across an audiobook for a graphic novel, up until receiving the ALC (thank you Hachette Audio!). I was wondering how a multi-cast audiobook production will replicate the visuals, relationship dynamics, and the spicy scenes. While the narrators and musicality of the production adds the dramatized flair that captures the story well, some of the sound effects sounded awkward in tandem to the reading/listening experience. Had to bump my overall rating a star down unfortunately.

Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking, Gaysians is a joyous story of found family navigating being gay and Asian within the LGBTQ+ community in America.

I'm rating this primarly as an audiobook, as I did not have access to the graphic novel itself. If I had, I likely would have enjoyed it a lot more because the description sounded like something I would love.

As an audiobook, this reads like trying to watch a TV show with your eyes closed. You necessarily miss a LOT if all you hear is dialogue and background noises. Some of the cast members sounded very similar as well, making it hard to tell the speakers apart. With no dialogue tags or visual descriptions in lieu of the pictures, following the story was nearly impossible.

I also was NOT a fan of the constant background noise (laughing, crying, talking, sex sounds, etc) that made it sometimes hard to hear the dialogue. It occasionally set the scene a little bit, but it hurt more than it helped for me. Of course, I'm not a fan of graphic audios anyway and I likely would have opted not to request this one if I had known that's what I would be getting.

*Thanks to Algonquin Books for providing an early copy for review.

A great full-cast production of a heartwarming tale of found family. I think anyone who's a fan of full-cast audiobooks or radio plays will find a lot to love here. The voice actors all gave great performances--I didn't even realize it was an adaptation of a graphic novel until I looked the book up mid-way through. That said, I do feel like there were certain elements that were lost in the translation from comic to audio and some moments where I was a little confused about what was happening in a scene, due to the lack of visuals, which makes me want to read the graphic novel to really get into the full context. I'd be most interested in seeing this really come alive as a motion comic that pairs the graphic novel with the audiobook because, unfortunately, I do think you need the visuals to fully appreciate the story.

Not knowing the type of audiobook this was going to be set me up not to love it. The story worked and most of the characters. Not knowing that this was also a graphic novel then finding out about halfway through, hurt as well. In more ways than one I feel like I would've loved the graphic novel more.

4.5/5⭐
5/5🎧 (full cast)
Pequé de no darme cuenta antes que se trata de una novela gráfica.
El audiolibro es fullcast y con efectos de sonido, por lo que la produccion vendría a ser como un audio gráfico.
Las interpretaciones de los narradores fueron excelentes.
La historia es refrescante y muy inmersiva, el audiolibro me creó la necesidad de tener la copia física porque necesito releer esa versión.

The good: This novel tells a touching story of a found family whose members have to make their way through a world of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and a stubborn refusal to mind one’s own business, including homophobia from their own families. I gained insights into the lives of people in circumstances different from mine. It also addresses dating preferences without skipping over the characters’ hypocrisy on that matter.

The bad: When I read about the cast of characters, I expected genuine diversity, not merely the box-checking kind, and an exploration of different, but still valid, ways of being a gay man and how such gay men interact in a found family. However, the characters often sounded alike, so much that I needed a scorecard to keep track of who was who. This was especially the case when they were hanging out together in a bar. Also, the transgender coming out came out of nowhere and seemed to happen only because the plot and box-checking diversity called for it.

The ugly: Since I received a review copy of the audiobook, I was asked to comment on the narration. This was another area where I had a hard time telling the characters apart. This was especially odd given the audiobooks in which a single narrator manages distinguishable voices.

would love to read the physical version to see the illustrations but the audio performance was spectacular and the story was heartwarming! so many important topics handled with care, i thoroughly enjoyed these characters. stellar performance from all of the narrators, this was such a fun time.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7644294653?book_show_action=false
TikTok Review: https://www.tiktok.com/@bookswithjm/video/7518118958432652599?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7506737937448814122

Honestly, I had high hopes for this ALC and I felt prettyet down. The storyline was decent, but the continuous sex sounds, kissing sounds, crying/laughing (sometimes I couldn't tell the difference), and really poorly done background noises made it hard to listen to this ALC.

I wouldn't recommend it ...

Wow wow wow. What a beautiful and funny and sexy and amazing book. Think "Sex & the City"/"And Just Like That" but the entire cast is queer asian people...and instead of NYC, it's Seattle. I loved this book. The characters and storylines felt real. The voices that brought this audiobook to life were perfectly cast. And listening to this audiobook inspired me to check out the graphic novel version - and the illustrations/artwork are stunning. Spoiler alert to all my friends: each of you are going to. be getting this book as a birthday present! 10 out of 10.

I did the ALC audiobook of this by Hachette and wow. What a unique time.

This has to have been the wildest, most historically relevant for the moment, little experience. It was almost like watching a stage show without the theatre. Camp AF and I don't think I have ever enjoyed an audiobook so much. If you love an immersive and reflective experience that's hit after hit, come this way.

A glimpse into the city life, I felt the go-go-go go as our characters went-went-went. It's giving synopsis cultural commentary and I might even be a touch obsessed.

Screaming, we love that for her. Get up sl*t, this one is for everyone.

This was an amazing experience
Gaysians takes us to Seattle in the company of gay asian men, who share their livestories, which cover a whole range of perspectives, from the little boy who grew up in the USA with immigrant parents, to the refugees who fled their countries fearing for their lives, we get to see a glimpse of how life as a gaysian is from all perspectives.

This was such a wonderful story, so well rounded, I dont really love the ending since it's a little bit basic y2k vibes but that's me.

Now I was able to get a hold of the audiobook which made this 1000x more interesting, this is the best way to enjoy audiobooks in my opinion, the narrators made this experience even better, kudos to them!
Every LGBT person would enjoy this and feel seen and understood, and maybe realize the privilige you might have ( or not )
It was a beautiful experience and I wish there was more of it honestly.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for this audiobook, all opinions here stated are my own

I had the chance to listen to the audiobook version of this graphic novel, and the production was absolutely top-tier! It’s a full-cast, dramatized experience that truly feels like watching a movie with your ears. While I do wish I had the graphic novel in hand to follow along visually, I still highly recommend doing an immersive read if you can. Michael crafts a powerful story that beautifully blends found family with deeper themes like self-love, racism, and the nuanced challenges within the Asian and LGBTQIA+ communities. A heartfelt and impactful listen that I highly recommend it!

I’ve seen this described as a "gay Sex and the City," and I would agree. Since I wasn’t a fan of "Sex and the City," I didn’t enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed "Flamer" by Curato. However, I think readers who are into "Sex and the City" will likely enjoy it. The representation in the story is important, and I appreciated reading about the experiences of queer and Asian characters.

3,75/5 rounded up.

In a found family of queer Asian Americans in Seattle we follow four of them as they navigate their life, love and frienships. I've seen other compare this to Sex and the City and I disagree: it's more a modern Pose. I listened to this as an audio ARC, while the original text is a graphic novel. I feel like listening this separately from the book is very challenging as you're missing stuff on the page, but nevertheless the emotional weight did shine through.

The Good:
- The characters are very diverse (in personality) and complemented each other well. My favorite character was K who, like Blanca in Pose, is the glue that keeps all the other characters together. She is Mother on multiple levels as she sees all and dispenses her wisdom accordingly.
- The storylines are poignant and each of them feel very fleshed out.
- Most of the narrators did a fantastic job to bring emotion to the story. Despite needing to piece stuff together because you're not seeing it on the page I could really feel for the characters.

The Could be better:
- Like I said the audio can't really convey the whole story as there are moments of silence in which I assume things can be seen on the page, but as a listener you're just wondering why the audio cut out. There's a lot you can pick up with context clues, but not everything.
- While I really like Steven's storyline in general with his patient, I feel like the violent encounter he has is glossed over. I thought this was THE event that's hinted to in the synopis, but it's never spoken of again.

The Bad:
- When they're in the club you hear all the narrators go "wooh" / "yeah" / "yasss" and it's pretty cringey. Also the kissing sounds are cringey. I get that this is in lieu of seeing stuff on the page, but it's awkward.

All in all I think this works better as a companion to the graphic novel and not as a separate audiobook. Despite this fact it managed to pull on my heartstrings effectively. Thanks NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with an audio ARC to this book. All thoughts are my own.

Gaysians was a graphic novel adapted to audiobook and I had the pleasure of listening while also reading along! The audiobook experience was unique in that it felt like a version of graphic audiobooks, that sound like a movie without watching one. Therefore the book included sound effects and a more theater-like script that lacked exposition. The audiobook featured a full cast that included the author, and I think a full cast experience is definitely needed with this type of adaptation, each character was unique and came “off the page” clearly!

The storyline is that of a newly out and relocated from a small town to Seattle, gay, Filipino man, AJ, making new friends who are also gay, Asian men, from various backgrounds including a Vietnamese immigrant, a Korean adoptee of non-Korean parents, a Japanese-American transgender woman, and some of their other gay, Asian friends. The group of new friends bare to the reader their experiences being Asian in America, their families (whether accepted for their queerness or otherwise), dating, and being on the bottom of the proverbial gay totem pole as Asian gays. The everyday micro-aggressions of some of the characters, particularly John, were poignant and I felt frustrated along with him! The overt aggressions the cast of characters experienced made me angry on their behalf and so ashamed for the way they were treated by other humans. I also previously did not know the prejudices gay Asians experienced within the LGBTQ community. I appreciated the author for sharing these ugly truths.

On the other hand, this book had so much love, acceptance, and (found) family! When K found herself, and AJ got immediate acceptance, and Steven began to love himself, these moments made this book so full of big, beautiful, queer love! I loved seeing all the love and how these characters became each other’s family.

I highly recommend this book, but it’s definitely got quite a few chili peppers if that’s something you like to know in advance!

I enjoyed hearing about the Asian experience in this book—it was very relatable. I think that the graphic novel would be more enjoyable than the audiobook. I felt the audiobook lacked depth because of the missing visuals.