Road Home

by Rex Ogle Narrated by Ramón de Ocampo

Overview

One hot summer afternoon, Rex Ogle's sexuality is found out and his father gives him an ultimatum: you can be gay, or you can live here, but not both-and you have twenty-four hours to decide. Rex desperately hopes for a reprieve that doesn't come, and the following day, he leaves. With no place to go, he drives to New Orleans, where he has the phone number of a man he met briefly and kissed once.

This is a story of coming out, a first love that turns to betrayal, assault, and homelessness. Road Home vividly depicts a teenager falling through the net of family and society into a world of hunger, danger, and despair, and reaching a moment of desperate choice on a highway bridge above the Mississippi River. But this is also a story of survival. Intimate, honest, and compelling, it joins Rex Ogle's award-winning memoirs Free Lunch and Punching Bag in mapping a young adulthood scarred by trauma and illuminated by strength and compassion.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Ogle’s story, relayed in short, fast-paced chapters, is deeply personal and affecting, and readers will be anxious to learn how this period of his life ended. Raw and vulnerable; a necessary look at the realities of homelessness."— Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Searingly honest...[A] stunning addition to Ogle’s autobiographical work."— Publishers Weekly (starred)

"Memoirs like this one keep good company with others like Laurie Halse Anderson’s Shout, Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, and George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue. An emotionally resonant denouement; Ogle gives readers his hardest and most hopeful book yet."— School Library Journal (starred)

"Detailed dialogue and short, punchy sentences are captivating and effortlessly convey Ogle's bleak experience. Throughout, Ogle vividly recounts his desperation and bouts with suicidal ideation while also highlighting shreds of hope...Ultimately, Road Home is a story of queer survival and reclamation of self."— Shelf Awareness (starred)

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2024-04-05
Award-winning author Ogle shares the story of being kicked out by his father for being gay and his subsequent experience with homelessness in this conclusion to his memoir trilogy.

In a chance encounter at a hotel in Pensacola, Florida, during a family beach vacation in the late 1990s, 17-year-old Rex meets the charming Russell. He leaves with his first kiss and Russell’s number. Sometime later, Rex’s father issues an ultimatum: Rex can remain at home if he agrees to go to therapy (and pay for it himself), attend church weekly, date a girl chosen by his dad, and avoid any “person of homosexual persuasion.” Refusing to live a lie, Rex packs his things into his truck and leaves Alabama. Certain that he can’t return to his abusive mother and stepfather in Texas and terrified of facing his highly religious abuela, he heads to New Orleans, where Russell lives. There he finds momentary stability and can begin searching for a job and preparing for college. A relationship forms between Rex and the 31-year-old Russell, but as Rex struggles to find work, the power imbalance between them comes to a violent head. Soon, Rex is living on the streets, where he experiences numerous traumas and ultimately questions what it means to survive. Ogle’s story, relayed in short, fast-paced chapters, is deeply personal and affecting, and readers will be anxious to learn how this period of his life ended.

Raw and vulnerable; a necessary look at the realities of homelessness. (author’s note, afterword) (Memoir. 14-adult)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940191362472
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	06/25/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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