In 2011, shortly before the birth of her first daughter, novelist Kate Christie started a blog called Homodramatica. Over the next few years she would write about queer parenting, lesbian fiction, same-sex marriage, chronic illness, and the joys and challenges of raising three girls under the age of three. Now, in Homodramatica: Family of Five, Christie has reshaped her nonfiction writing into a book that tells the story of her growing family–and of her own growth over the same period.
From the introduction: “Each chapter presents a text-based snapshot of daily life for my wife, daughters, and myself at a specific moment in time. Woven through this writerly scrapbook, as I’ve come to think of the collection, is the theme of gay marriage in the United States: What are the flash points in the cultural conversation about same-sex marriage? How does the debate impact parenting in general? And how does the political climate impact the life of our gay-married, same-sex parented family in particular?”
While some of the pieces in this collection will be familiar to readers of Christie’s blog, the book also contains content not previously published, including birth stories, parenting notes, and essays on Prop 8, DOMA, and the 2015 SCOTUS gay marriage decision.
As the saying goes, the personal is political. For one queer family caught up in the culture wars of the early twenty-first century, the two have often been inextricable.
READ THE OFFICIAL EXCERPT (PDF FORMAT).
Purchasing Options
Homodramatica: Family of Five is available in Kindle and paperback formats from Amazon. You can also purchase it in a variety of eBook formats (including ePub, PDF, and Kindle) from Bella Books and in paperback and Nook format from Barnes & Noble.
Reviews and Reader Comments for Homodramatica
- Reader comment, 8/7/18: “I love Kate Christie’s fiction, so I suppose it’s no surprise that I also truly appreciate, identify with (despite our very different lives), and adore this edited-blog-posts book that talks about her life with her wife, their marriage, their children, and their other family members. Be warned: Some dogs die. Also, be warned: There are a couple of pretty scary birth scenes. And be warned: This book is good, kind, solid, warm, funny, sweet, and lovely.”
- Reader comment, 8/9/18: “I’ve read several of Kate Christie’s novels and followed her blog from the beginning. I looked forward to rereading her blog posts as a collection but happily discovered that a lot of the material is brand new. I worried with Kate as her wife struggled through 34 hours of labor, I mourned the loss of her dogs, I delighted in the early morning snuggles of her small children. I recommend this book to parents in general, but especially to LGBTQ+ folks who might be struggling with their identities as parents or who just want to read about someone who’s been there. Homodramatica is heartwarming without an ounce of sentimentality.”
- Reader comment, 3/2/19: “Inspired by blog posts, this memoir brings together a number of essays on what it is like to be a lesbian family. She writes about queer parenting, chronic illness and queer politics with humor and compassion. If you like her blog, you will like this book. If you don’t know of her, after this read you’ll feel like you know her personally.”
Homodramatica 