Lost & Found, by Kathryn Schulz
Can we mainstream LGBTQIA+ memoirs, please?
Memoirs with Melissa shares bimonthly reviews intended to expose readers to diverse authors and life experiences. To see more of what I’m reading, browse my virtual memoir shelf on Goodreads.
June is Pride Month, and I’m overflowing with memoirs by queer authors to recommend to my readers. Despite book bans across the country, young adult fiction centering LGBTQIA+ characters is more popular than ever. I’m convinced memoir can jump on that train, too. So, all month, I’ll be sharing books I’ve read and love on social media (@melissagopp on FB, Twitter, and IG). But here, I’m spotlighting one.
If I could do for one memoir author what bigolas dickolas did for Amal El-Mohtar’s book sales last month, I would choose Kathryn Schulz. Her memoir Lost & Found is one of those books that’s hard to articulate succinctly as to why you must read it. Just trust me when I say get thee to a library or your local independent bookstore, and put a copy in your hands.
This is one I’d recommend reading in the written word because there’s so much texture and detail to savor. Schulz arranges her story in three parts: “Lost” in which she deftly navigates the language of grief around losing her father, “Found” where she meets and falls in love with her wife, and “And,” a melding of both experiences that captures the heartbreaking beauty of what it means to live.
What I found most unique about this memoir was the plot twist in part two. It felt straight out of a novel like The Vanishing Half or How We Became Wicked (an excellent YA sci-fi read by my friend Alexander Yates). I audibly gasped, and so will you.
Another unexpected treat was finding a description of The Throne of the Third Heaven, a work of art housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that I first saw and fell in love with before the era of smartphones. Though I’d forgotten the name, I never lost my memory of that piece and was delighted to recognize the work immediately by Schulz’s description.
Lost & Found came out more than a year ago and landed on my nightstand after making several Best of 2022 lists. Now, it’s a 2023 Lambda Literary Award Nominee for Lesbian Memoir/Biography, set to be decided on June 9. Note that How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures (previously reviewed here) is also a finalist in the LGBTQ+ Nonfiction category. The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser is a nominee in the Bisexual Nonfiction category. If you loved her viral essay, you’ll love her book even more.
Happy Pride! What are you reading to celebrate the month?
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Thanks for this lovely recommendation! I'm currently putting together the proposal for my forthcoming memoir, Hurricane Lessons, so I'm eager to read as many LGBTQ+ memoirs as possible!
Sounds great! I finally finished The Family Outing a few weeks ago, based on your recommendation and I absolutely loved it.
Some more recs for you: High Risk Homosexual by Edgar Gomez, Holà Papi by John Paul Brammer, Unfollow Me by Jill Louise Busby.
I just started listening to the audiobook of A Year Without a Name by Cyrus Grace Dunham. Their prose is so gorgeous and I feel so seen. I know I’ll have to get the hard copy.