Three important points/ideas are…gender, sexuality, and discrimination. Gender refers to the anatomy of an individual at the moment of birth (male or female), while sexuality refers to the authenticity of ones adapted masculinity or femininity – furthermore, how they express that in their lives. And discrimination is unfortunately tied to these themes, as seen in the events unfolding around Richard and Sasha.
This reminds me of…the civil rights movements of the 60’s-70’s here in America. Human beings, brothers, sisters, civilians – no different from one another, faced with discrimination and hate because of their physiology. Skin color, gender, sexuality; aspects such as these should never be the root of such hate.
The author’s purpose is…to show the prelude, effects, and repercussions of such discrimination. Furthermore, the author shows how similar two people who are “so-different” really are.
What interested me most was…the build-up to the actual event which changed Richard and Sasha’s lives. Before I opened the book, I imagined it would mostly follow the repercussions, and how the protagonist’s lives continued. But the character development, followed by consequent bombshell moment, created a “peak moment” in the novel which was interesting for me as a reader.
I still don’t understand…if Richard would have assaulted Sasha if he didn’t have Lloyd as a friend. Personally, I’ve made mistakes, as unrelated as they may have been to another individual, that I would have not made if I had never emulated and befriended such an influencer.
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