SELF-MADE BOYS

A reimagining of The Great Gatsby that counters Fitzgerald’s tale of hegemonic power, centering people with marginalized identities.

Seventeen-year-old trans boy Nicholás Caraveo is ready to start his career as a Wall Street analyst, hoping to provide financial security for his beet-farming family in Wisconsin. He’s excited to live near his cousin Daisy in West Egg, where she’s promised to set him up for success, but is shocked to discover that Daisy has lightened her skin and hair to pass as White and hide their shared Latine heritage from her rich, racist promised fiance, Tom. Feeling unmoored in a sea of racism, classism, and toxic masculinity, Nick is drawn to Jay Gatsby, his enigmatic neighbor whose glamorous parties are infamous. Jay, who is also gay and trans, shows Nick the ropes of stealth living and crossing class lines. Despite their undeniable chemistry, Nick agrees to help Jay win over Daisy. The duo teams up with Jay and Daisy’s friend Jordan to give Daisy a dazzling debutante season. The tightly structured plot twists are compelling and satisfying for Gatsby fans, critics, and neophytes alike, avoiding and subverting tropes and giving the main quartet the happy endings they deserve. In this absolutely stunning work, McLemore delivers their signature lyrical prose and rich symbolism. The exquisite slow-burn gay romance is surrounded by Sapphic relationships, lavender marriages, and queer community, giving authentic representation of queer lives in the 1920s.

Richly imagined, fiercely tender, and achingly beautiful.