Boy Erased

A Memoir

By: Garrard Conley

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling memoir about identity, love, and understanding. Now a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Lucas Hedges, directed by Joel Edgerton.

"Every sentence of the story will stir your soul" (O Magazine).

The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality.

When Garrard was a 19-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Through an institutionalized 12-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness.

By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds.

©2016 Garrard Conley (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Exceptionally well-written... This timely addition to the debate on conversion therapy will build sympathy for both children and parents who avail themselves of it while still showing how damaging it can be." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"In a sharp and shocking debut memoir, Conley digs deep into the ex-gay therapy system... An engaging memoir that will inevitably make readers long for a more equal future.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Raw

It's interesting. I never went through exgay therapy, but I am battling some of the same questions he has at the end in regards to faith. I actually think my mom thought therapy would have been a solution at the beginning but I was lucky and she eventually did her own reading of at least one book written by a queer christian before she said anything too drastic to me, not that I didn't catch the little things. I connected with his story better than i probably could have in any other way i think. I'm at working seething with anger at time and on the verge of crying. It's definitely not the same, but there's a lot of things in there that I think a lot of people go through and internalize the big difference being it's not shoved in our faces continually and packaged with the label cure.

I thought this would be more memoir

I was super excited for this story. I thought there were would be more personal experiences, but it seems to be a repetitive story that doesn't really give you much to work with. Very shallow. You don't get very attached to the writer.

Powerful but sometimes slow

Slow at times but a powerful brutal important and honest story thats amazongly told amen

Hauntingly beautiful

Every person who is struggling with their sexuality should read this book. Hopefully it’ll make you proud of who you are.

touching

as a gay man from a religious family this story touched my heart. it told the story of the kind of things I always feared about coming out to my family. Please if you're child comes out to you read this before you react.

Boy Erased

Excellent book. Many young, confused adolescents need to read. I would highly recommend for straight people to read.

Great Discovery.

Amazing read. I saw the preview for this movie and seen it was based on a true story. I wanted the in depth details of the book prior to watching the film. It was unexpected but true circumstances back then. Life does get easier for some. Some.

Descriptive portrait of inner conflict

Gerrard Conley paints such a vivid picture of his conflicts with sexuality, religion and family. His descriptions often are comparable to that of a a beautiful, epic poem. Michael Crouch personifies all the varying emotions with clarity and resolution.

Fantastically heart breaking

Heavy, gut wrenching, beautifully written, & absorbing. The inside look into conversion therapy and the trauma the author is still trying to process and deal with is something that will sit with me.

Powerful

Poignant and powerfully written, this memoir puts a human face on the travesty of conversion therapy.