Based on the real-life work of queer researcher and activist Jan Gay, Justin Torres’ new novel is a transfixing and emotional examination of history. Blackouts follows a dying elderly man, Juan Gay, and his nameless, 20-something caretaker to explore what it means to be erased. Throughout, Torres draws on photographs, illustrations, and redacted passages from “Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns,” a 1941 committee report whose authorship is attributed to psychiatrist George W. Henry but that originated as a compilation of queer stories collected by Jan. In doing so, Blackouts, a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award in fiction, illuminates the ways in which the lives and experiences of marginalized people have long been omitted from written records. —Megan McCluskey
Buy Now: Blackouts on Bookshop | Amazon
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