This is a letter I received the other day from a reader, posted with permission:
Dear C.L. Hanson
I have spent all of my limited free time in the last week voraciously reading the online portions of your novel Exmormon (I was so disappointed when I discovered the last parts weren't available and I'd have to wait for lulu to ship it). I really have nothing of great insight to add, other than to say I really appreciated it. As an exmormon lesbian feminist expatriate I can scarcely describe how much I identified with it. The scenes from the Youth Conference dance brought back so many awkward and hilarious memories, even though I actually liked the dancing in a circle with the girls and platonic friends part, whether that was to do with how genuinely entertaining my avant garde church friends were (one of the boys even had a beard! imagine, and one of the girls had two sets of earrings and was therefore Satan's handmaiden) or how little I actually cared about the boys except as some abstract status symbol, I'll never know. I also don't think I've ever been more gratified in my decision not to go to BYU (not that I haven't been pretty glad of it for awhile now).
At lot of Mormon lit is either so positive and upbeat that it seems false, or at least the experience of someone far more popular and faithful than I, or so completely negative that it misses what it was really like growing up in the church. Your book really reminded me of my life, and I impatiently await the arrival of the rest of it.
Sincerely,
Sabayon
PS: I can't wait to explain to my brother that he can drink beer!
PPS: I don't really think you should make it into a musical.
****
On an unrelated note, today is carnival day!!! So be sure to have a look at the fabulous post roundups on the Carnival of the Godless #97 and the Humanist Symposium #23!
And I'll be hosting the next Carnival of the Godless, so I hope you'll all submit some great posts here!!!
2 comments:
Hey Sabayon -- awesome letter! I have fan envy. :-D
I love the book too, and simply could not be forced to wait for its online publishing schedule, so I got it from Lulu posthaste.
Where are you located, Sabayon? Do we have an addition to our godless exmo gatherings in Switzerland or thereabouts??
Oh, and hi, Chanson! :-) Glad you're enjoying the states, let me know when you come back so we can do something fun again. Like drink a lot.
Hey Wry!!!
Yeah, it's cool to find another exmo in Switzerland!!! (I love her Swiss LOL catz.) Unfortunately it looks like she's not quite in our neck of the woods, but we can probably work something out for a fun get-together! :D
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