Description

If your grew up queer in a church environment, I think this will feel familiar to you. From the horrible awkwardness every youth group (why are youth pastors Like That) to the general feeling of wrongness every time you even thought of anything “sinful,” it feels like I’ve sat next to the main character in church. Very bittersweet but still weirdly funny sums up this comic really well.

– Ndobe 🙂

A queer coming-of-age story, complete with secret cigarettes, gross gym teachers, and a lot of church.

It’s the early 2000s. Lauren is fifteen, soft-spoken, and ashamed of her body. She’s a devout member of an evangelical church, but when her Bible-thumping parents forbid Lauren to bring evolution textbooks home, she opts to study at her schoolmate Mariah’s house. Mariah has dial-up internet, an absentee mom, and a Wiccan altar—the perfect setting for a study session and sleepover to remember. That evening, Mariah gives Lauren a makeover and the two melt into each other, in what becomes Lauren’s first queer encounter. Afterward, a potent blend of Christian guilt and internalized homophobia causes Lauren to question the experience.

Author Jessica Campbell (XTC69) uses frankness and dark humor to articulate Lauren’s burgeoning crisis of faith and sexuality. She captures teenage antics and banter with astute comedic style, simultaneously skewering bullies, a culture of slut-shaming, and the devastating impact of religious zealotry. Rave is an instant classic, a coming-of-age story about the secret spaces young women create and the wider social structures that fail them.