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Julia Koets

The Rib Joint

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“This dazzling writer has created a guidebook for growing up queer in the American South . . . a testament to human endurance and dignity.” —Nick White, author of Sweet & Low
Growing up in a small town in the South, Julia and her childhood best friend Laura know the church as well as they know each other’s bodies—the California-shaped scar on Julia’s right knee, the tapered thinness of Laura’s fingers, the circumference of each other’s ponytails. When Laura’s family moves away in middle school and Julia gets a crush on the new priest’s daughter at their church, Julia starts to more fully realize the consequences of being anything but straight in the South.
After college, when Julia and her best friend Kate wait tables at a rib joint in Julia’s hometown, they are forced to face the price of the secrets they’ve kept—from their families, each other, and themselves. From astronaut Sally Ride’s obituary, to a UFO Welcome Center, to a shark tooth collection, to DC Comic’s Gay Ghost, this memoir-in-essays draws from mythology, religion, popular culture, and personal experience to examine how coming out is not a one-time act. At once heartrending and beautiful, The Rib Joint explores how fear and loss can inhabit our bodies and, contrastingly, how naming our desire allows us to feel the heart beating in our chest.
“A brilliant, unsettling book.” —Paul Lisicky, author of Later
“Engaging, poignant, and at times wryly humorous … Julia Koets writes with vulnerability, warmth, and a lyrical style that pulls the reader straight through to the end.” —Kristen Iversen, author of Full Body Burden
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123 printed pages
Original publication
2019
Publication year
2019

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  • Khaoula Zrirashared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading

  • Crystal Vega-Huertashared an impression3 years ago
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Quotes

  • Azi Satriahas quoted4 years ago
    Fear can affect the body in much the same way as gravitational pressure. We can implode. We can disappear.
  • Azi Satriahas quoted4 years ago
    That was the other confusing thing about desire: it came, and then it moved on to someone else so quickly that it was hard to study.
  • Azi Satriahas quoted4 years ago
    Lesbian was something that a few people mysteriously became when they grew up, the way some people became astronauts.

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