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Diary of a Drag Queen Kindle Edition
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“This book changed my life. Tom Rasmussen’s honesty, vulnerability, and fearlessness jump out of every page and every word. It is the queer bible I’ve always needed.” —Sam Smith, singer and songwriter
"Tom covers the nuance, doubt, and uncertainty of being a drag queen. Crystal covers the transcendence . . . Charisma and quick intelligence—two qualities that have long been prerequisites for drag . . . Diary puts on technicolor display." —Katy Waldman, The New Yorker
In these pages, find glamour and gaffes on and off the stage, clarifying snippets of queer theory, terrifyingly selfish bosses, sex, quick sex, KFC binges, group sex, the kind of honesty that banishes shame, glimmers of hope, blazes of ambition, tender sex, mad dashes in last night's heels plus a full face of make-up, and a rom-com love story for the ages. This is where the unspeakable becomes the celebrated. This is the diary of a drag queen—one dazzling, hilarious, true performance of a real, flawed, extraordinary life.
"I hope people like me will read this and feel seen and loved by it. I hope people who aren't like me will enjoy it, laugh with it, learn from it. And I hope people who don't like me will file lawsuits just so I can wear my brand-new leopard-print skirt suit and bust their asses in court."
—Crystal Rasmussen, in Refinery29
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFSG Originals
- Publication dateApril 14, 2020
- File size1936 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Tom covers the nuance, doubt, and uncertainty of being a drag queen. Crystal covers the transcendence . . . This balancing act requires charisma and quick intelligence―two qualities that have long been prerequisites for drag, but that Diary puts on technicolor display . . . Queering the rom-com, or at least seeming to do so, actually spotlights the genre’s persistent debts to queerness, from the gender antics of Twelfth Night to Oscar Wilde’s silky social critiques."
―Katy Waldman, The New Yorker
“This book changed my life. Tom Rasmussen’s honesty, vulnerability, and fearlessness jump out of every page and every word. It is the queer bible I’ve always needed.”
―Sam Smith, singer and songwriter
"This hilarious memoir follows [Rasmussen] through a year of adventures, from being onstage to being in bed to realizing the fashion world is even more cutthroat than pop culture portrays it. Diary of a Drag Queen is equal parts inspiring and funny as hell."
―Evette Dionne, BitchMedia, "17 Memoirs Feminists Should Read in 2020"
“A must-read. Sexy and fun, Diary of a Drag Queen is about bodies and belonging, about self and transformation, and an attempt to understand our complicated minds. Full of laughs and tears, this book is a compelling look at what it means to be queer.”
―Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things
"An extraordinarily deft account of just how complicated the life of a drag queen can be . . . Tom takes us beneath the surface, and into the day-to-day triumphs and tragedies of being a struggling drag queen in unforgiving cities. There are moments where I laughed so hard I peed; and there are moments where I cried so hard I basically choked. Some of the most beautiful passages are when Tom confesses how their drag alter-ego―Bolshevik-turned-Capitalist-Tycoon, Crystal―has been a way for them to celebrate the working-class women who raised them . . . If you’re looking for a book about the intersection of drag and class, and which is full of light, love and laughter, look no further."
―Amrou Al-Kadhi, Lit Hub
"Soul-baring, shamelessly explicit, and wickedly funny, Rasmussen's relentlessly entertaining book gets beneath the glitter and drama of drag to reveal how a practice often dismissed as misogynistic can serve as a kind of salvation for many nonbinary people . . . A sharp-eyed and hilarious memoir."
―Kirkus
"A cheeky, irreverent debut . . . Reads like a queer Bridget Jones’s Diary . . . Beyond being an entertaining romp, this memoir serves as an education for those living outside queer and drag circles. This exuberant, irreverent confessional is loud and proud with its message of acceptance and inclusion."
―Publishers Weekly
“A heartfelt memoir of queerness and non-conformity . . . [A] joyful and painful account of a queer life well lived . . . It is a case for intersectionality told in reality, not just in theory―and so, much needed.”
―Amelia Abraham, Vogue UK
“The book on everyone's desk at Glamour HQ right now . . . Hilarious.”
―Glamour UK
“A riotous portrayal of the contemporary queer experience.”
―Saima Haidrani, Dazed
“Hilarious and candid . . . A must read for anyone interested in drag. Or anyone with a sense of humour. Or just anyone at all.”
―Connor Young, Gay Times
“Truthful, revealing and obscenely hilarious . . . Strident and unapologetic but really sweet, too.”
―Attitude
“Accessible and hilarious . . . If you want a true depiction of what it's like to balance a drag queen persona with an everyday self, look no further.”
―Lauren Sharkey, Bustle
“A proud voice for the non-binary community.”
―Amrou Al-Kadhi, Gay Times
“Outrageously scatological, bacchanalian, and foul-mouthed . . . And yet―amazingly―it is precisely this radical honesty that means the book is never disgusting, or repulsive; far from it . . . Rasmussen’s voice as a writer is poetic, idiosyncratic, and unbelievably funny . . . [A] fierce debut.”
―The Prickle
About the Author
Tom Rasmussen is a journalist and queer performer. When not in drag, they are a regular contributor at The Independent, Dazed, i-D, LOVE, and Refinery29. Their work has also been featured in The Guardian, Vice, Broadly, Tank, and Gay Times,and they were named an LGBT trailblazer by The Dots and one of the voices of now for i-D. Tom also forms half of the radical queer punk band ACM, and is coauthor of Diary of a Drag Queen.
Product details
- ASIN : B07S3MFRN1
- Publisher : FSG Originals (April 14, 2020)
- Publication date : April 14, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 1936 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 433 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #934,026 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #620 in LGBTQ+ Biographies & Memoirs
- #784 in Theatre Biographies
- #1,171 in Theater (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Crystal
Look up the term 'Global Phenomenon' in the dictionary and you will simply find a picture of Crystal's face. She's beautiful. She's a model. She looks like a block of cheap Edam that's been left out in the sun. She's known for always having a cigarette in her mouth, while shouting at people for smoking in her face. She also coined the term 'money' and has been living in her overdraft since the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Crystal forms one fifth of DENIM, the drag supergroup, and is adored by fans for her lazy demeanor and her powerful falsetto.
Tom
Tom Rasmussen is a Northerner based in London. When out of drag, they are contributing editor at Dazed Beauty, LOVE Magazine and Refinery29, and a regular contributor to the Independent and i-D. Their work has also been featured in Vice, Broadly, Tank, The Guardian and The Gay Times.
In 2018 they were named an LGBT trailblazer by The Dots and one of the voices of now for i-D.
Tom also forms half of the radical queer punk band ACM.
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Crystal is portrayed as pure ego and self-adoration, from an undetermined time, yet has seen it all, a ballsy voice above the fray, shouting down what she sees to the groundling children below. Her real-life counterpart, Tom, is knee-deep in social media and queer culture, who makes and meets high-minded goals. Part diary, part travelogue, part notes to self, part hardcore confessional.
Diary of a Drag Queen is a courageous book. Crystal and Tom Rasmussen tell their story with openness, honesty, humor, pain, lewdness and an in-your-face frankness. If you're a prude, you will be offended and this is not the book for you. If you're not, you'll find yourself laughing and enjoying their story. For awhile. Somewhere along, the book seemed to become one-note, and like any note hit again and again and again and again, it becomes tiresome.
This is strictly my opinion, all people and readers view things from a different perspective. I can only speak my own truth.
My thanks to NetGalley and FSG Originals for allowing me to read a copy of Diary of A Drag Queen in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Top reviews from other countries
As a queer man in his 40’s, it resonates on many levels & has touched me hearing this account of a beautiful persons life.
Thank you for your brutal honesty in writing this, and please b*tch! Gimme more x
I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in the realities of the modern drag scene, or what it means to be openly queer in an increasingly liberal world, and have a laugh while doing so.
Overall I found the book a mixed bag. I regularly rolled my eyes at the constant commentary about not being labelled as one thing or another yet the writer is constantly lablleing others. As a gay man, I found it quite insulting that unless you've suffered similar issues the writer has, you dont really earn the right to badge yourself as queer. Some of the generalisations about gay culture (particularly sex life) to be quite odd considering the whole gay community isn't obsessed with having sex with multiple people during the course or their journey.
The writer is very contradictory which I felt was quite jarring (saying on one had your hate capitalism yet visits chains such as Starbucks etc). By pointing out you are contradictory doesn't give much weight to you actually truly believing what you say to be what your actually think.
I also found the political slant to be out of kilter with some realities.
There are some truly emotional moments and could definitely relate to some of the stories from my own experiences.
If the writer truly believes anyone should be free to say and do whatever they want, talking about communities "owning" words isnt really in line what that. I felt i was being indirectly criticized in my own version of gay community because I hadn't earnt the right to say certain things or think a certain way.