Why people recommend it
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison is a contemporary novel that follows a young Mexican-American man working as a landscaper while coming to terms with his sexual identity and navigating socioeconomic challenges. On an episode of The Book Review titled Fiction About Lives in Ukraine, Liz Harris noted the novel as the second most targeted book for censorship and challenges. Later, on The Daily Stoic episode titled Former Attorney General Eric Holder on the Unfinished March of Justice, Ryan Holiday brought up Lawn Boy during a broader conversation about school library book bans and protests. Holiday highlighted an instance where a protester campaigned against the inclusion of the novel in a school library under the assumption that it contained objectionable homosexual themes. However, Holiday pointed out the frequent irony in these censorship efforts, noting how school librarians and defenders of literature often had to correct protesters who had misidentified or fundamentally misunderstood the actual contents and themes of the books they were attempting to ban. Both podcast appearances underscore the ongoing cultural controversies surrounding contemporary fiction, LGBTQ+ themes in literature, and the broader implications of intellectual freedom within educational and public institutions.
Who recommended it
- Liz Harris Discussed
- Ryan Holiday Discussed
Liz Harris — 1 mention
“the number two book was a book called lawn booy by Jonathan everon which is a novel that follows a young Mexican-American man who works as a landscaper and is coming to terms with his sexual identity”
Ryan Holiday — 1 mention
“and uh this woman was protesting the the inclusion of this book called Lawn Boy in the in the school library which uh you know she she believed contained all this uh sort of gay uh or or or homosexual themes and uh the the school librarian gets up and she goes are you talking about this book Lawn Boy”