Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies
Titillating and raw ... Betancourt looks to mount a more sweeping argument against the tyrannies of normative sexuality, insisting throughout that friendship and flirtation might be as spiritually affirmative as monogamy ... A persuasive and well-researched disquisition on the edifying and seductive potential of those we don’t yet know ... But Betancourt’s approach feels leaden with reference and citation, too often leaning on a catalog of cultural properties to advance an argument that is, at its heart, empirical ... More compelling when its author defers not to W.H. Auden or Roland Barthes but to that old chestnut: the personal.
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The chapters on cruising and on friendship are the strongest of the book ... A lively and intelligent addition to an essential discourse on how not only accessing our desires but also being open about them can make us more human, and perhaps, make for a better world.
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Reading this collection of essays is like sitting down with your most well-read friend, firing away with connections that show how much our experiences have in common across time and space.
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