This lil book was quick and brutal. A truly superb story about first love between two boys, the way the circumstances we are born into can shape it, our fears, and ultimately our choices in how we confront it all. While set in 1980s Poland, this story will (unfortunately) remain relevant and powerful and important to read. Also, a truly heartfelt homage to the importance of queer lit, and Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room in particular.

I will think of Ludwik often. 

“It felt as if the words and the thoughts of the narrator—despite their agony, despite their pain—healed some of my agony and my pain, simply by existing.”