My Government Means to Kill me

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Newson, Rasheed, Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Newson, Rasheed
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Newson, Rasheed	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Newson, Rasheed	4-week checkout	Due 05-18-2024

Lesson #1: The boss doesn't love you -- Lesson #2: A sanctuary can be a sordid place -- Lesson #3: Don't wear straightjackets -- Lesson #4: Enemies have their value -- Lesson #5: A big lie can build character -- Lesson #6: Romantic notions are delusions -- Lesson #7: Devils have a weakness -- Lesson #8: Victory can be a thorny crown -- Lesson #9: Touch at least one dead body -- Lesson #10: To change the world, have a selfish goal -- Lesson #11: Allies don't always harmonize -- Lesson #12: Learn to take a punch -- Lesson #13: The best spontaneous moments are planned -- Lesson #14: No sense in crying over blood money -- Lesson #15: Sometimes it's not about you -- Lesson #16: There's no preparing for every circle of hell -- Lesson #17: Leave the fallen behind -- Lesson #18: Bury your old self.
"A fierce and riveting queer coming-of-age story, following the personal and political awakening of a young gay Black man in 1980s NYC, from the television drama writer and producer of The Chi, Narcos, and Bel-Air Born into a wealthy Black Indianapolis family, Earl 'Trey' Singleton III leaves his overbearing parents and their expectations behind by running away to New York City with only a few dollars in his pocket. In the City, Trey meets up with a cast of characters that change his life forever--from civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, who he meets in a Harlem bathhouse, to his landlord, Fred Trump, who he clashes with and outfoxes. He volunteers at a renegade home hospice for AIDS patients, and after being put to the test by gay rights activist Larry Kramer and civil rights leader Dorothy Cotton, becomes a founding member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Along the way Trey attempts to navigate past traumas and searches for ways to maintain familial relationships--all while seeking the meaning of life in the midst of so much death. Vibrant, humorous, and fraught with entanglements, Rasheed Newson's My Government Means to Kill Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced, coming-of-age story that lends itself to a larger discussion about what it means for a young, gay, Black man in the mid-1980s to come to terms with his role in the midst of a political and social reckoning"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Fantastic historical fiction submitted by rshah on July 26, 2023, 2:47pm Told through the lens of Earl “Trey” Singleton as he survives his first few years living on his own for the first time and doing so in NYC, My Government Means to Kill Me is a great coming of age/slice of life story. The story is, at times, poignant, funny, shocking, and heartbreaking. MGMTKM iss told in first person and reads as a mini memoir from someone reflecting on that time. While a lot of first person fiction could arguably be described that way, what makes this book really fit the bill is the way Newson incorporates footnotes about actual people, places, events, etc. mentioned in the book. The use of the footnotes, then, situates the story in the real world. Reading this is a fake memoir works really well. So well that at one point I looked up whether the book was fiction or not because I legitimately forgot. The book does an excellent job showing us how an individual may have experienced becoming an independent adult in 1980s NYC while also introducing us to key names, organizations, and events during a key moment of queer history. While there is much sadness and frustration in the story surrounding racism, landlord issues, death, and the AIDS epidemic, at its heart, this is a book that celebrates life.