Burning Butch, RB Mertz
Burning Butch, RB Mertz
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Burning Butch

Author: R/B Mertz

Narrator: R/B Mertz

Unabridged: 10 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/28/2023


Synopsis

When divorce moves young R/B Mertz away from rural Pennsylvania and their abusive father, Mertz's life is torn in two. Mertz's mom and new stepdad dive headfirst into conservative Catholic homeschooling, entrenching themselves in a world dominated by saints, prayers, and having as many babies as possible, just as Mertz is starting to realize they might be queer.

Trying to stave off the inevitable, Mertz later enrolls in a conservative Catholic college in Ohio. Coming of age in the early aughts, they grapple with flirtations, sexual encounters, and confusing relationships with students and faculty, as they try to figure out how to live a life in a world hell-bent on making them choose between their community and their identity.

At turns rebellious, charming, and self-effacing, Mertz struggles to navigate this oppressive environment, questioning whether or not there is a place for them inside or outside of the Catholic Church; whether they can be themselves on the left or the right; whether they can be "conservative" or "liberal;" or whether they can be at all. Ultimately, Burning Butch is the courageous story of a trans/non-binary butch on a quest to survive with their authenticity intact.

About R/B Mertz

R/B Mertz (thee/thou) is a genderqueer non-binary butch poet and artist. She/they wrote the essay, "How Whiteness Kills God & Sprinkles Crack on the Body," the foreword for John J. McNeill's Freedom, Glorious Freedom: The Spiritual Journey for Gays, Lesbians, and Everyone Else, and poems, including "(We all end up in) the CAN" published by American Journal of Poetry. Mertz taught writing in Pittsburgh for eleven years and was honored to be a finalist for City of Asylum's 2020-21 Emerging Poet Laureate of Pittsburgh. On January 1, 2021, Mertz left the US for love, and they now reside in Toronto, Ontario, traditionally the territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.


Reviews

Goodreads review by rie on June 15, 2023

one thing about me, when i see something to do with catholicism and lesbianism, my ass is gonna be nodding and tearing along. religion gets beat into you so hard, it consumes you so much that it feel inescapable. even now, as someone that is extremely proud of their sexuality, i cant lie and say tha......more

Goodreads review by Kayla on May 12, 2022

The way my heart soared when I realized the chapters were named after songs from musicals……. Yeah, automatic 5 stars. Mertz, you’re the coolest.......more

Goodreads review by livvy 🍉 on March 18, 2023

words cannot express how much this book means to me. ‘Burning Butch’ follows the author’s experiences with Catholicism and growing up queer in a conservative Catholic community. Growing up queer and Catholic is a very special and peculiar kind of pain, and it’s one that I know well. It can be hard to......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on April 27, 2022

This was an intense one for me. First of all, I’m so glad that R/B chose to share their story because it matters. It matters to all of us who have similar experiences of abuse, particularly spiritual abuse. Those of us who grew up queer in the Church, who struggled and fought. Those of us who surviv......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on July 28, 2024

This didn’t really do anything unique? Like there wasn’t anything special about this book vs other queer religious books (and I’m getting tired of reading queer religious books because they’re all sounding the same). I’m glad that this book exists for people to feel represented and connected, but I......more