A Vigil for Joe Rose

Last updated
A Vigil for Joe Rose
A Vigil for Joe Rose.jpg
First edition
AuthorMichael Whatling
LanguageEnglish
SubjectBeing gay and out in high school
Genre Short Stories
Publisher iUniverse
Publication date
October 2009
Publication placeCanada
Pages216
ISBN 9781440178559

A Vigil for Joe Rose is a collection of short stories by Michael Whatling about the experience of being out in high school. It is based on Whatling's doctoral research in education at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. [1] Joe Rose was a Montreal gay activist who was attacked and murdered in 1989 by assailants who jeered at him and shouted, "Faggot," for having pink hair. [2]

Contents

In an interview, Whatling stated that what was telling about his research for this book was that when he contacted many high schools in order to interview students, he was told, "We don't know any gay students." [3]

The stories are:

Critical reception

A Vigil for Joe Rose was chosen by the American Library Association for inclusion in their 2010 Rainbow Book List. [4] It was reviewed in the Journal of LGBT Youth, which described the book as an "engaging collection," and, having been based on interviews with students who were gay and out in their high schools at the time, made the work both "relevant and interesting." [5]

Other critics found Whatling did "a superb job of shining the spotlight on the thinking of sixteen to eighteen-year-olds, who happen to be gay, out, and attending high school," although they did note a lack of "any real conflict" in some of the stories. [6]

A review on the PFLAG website called it "an important work." [7] It has become a popular educational tool for gay-straight alliances across Canada. [8]

In 2009, "The Last Coming Out Story," the novella included in A Vigil for Joe Rose, made the "Editor's Desk" on the HarperCollins Authonomy website. HarperCollins editors called it "a nice balance of humor and seriousness...and the delicate issues are handled with a sense of realism." [9]

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References

  1. eScholarship@McGill. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  2. Gerry B's Book Reviews, September 17, 2010
  3. "High school homos" Archived 2012-07-25 at the Wayback Machine . The Link , November 17, 2009, p. 8.
  4. ALA Rainbow Book List – 2010. American Library Association. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  5. Of Ghosts and Gay Youth: Michael Whatling's A Vigil for Joe Rose in the Journal of LGBT Youth, 8 (3), 2011, 281-284.]. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
  6. Gerry B's Book Reviews, September 17, 2010
  7. PFLAG, December 8, 2009
  8. MyGSA.ca Archived 2012-07-11 at archive.today . Retrieved 2012-04-09
  9. Authonomy, September 17, 2010