by Henry Hoke
First published 2022
Henry Hoke builds his memoir around twenty stickers that marked pivotal moments in his life. Each adhesive artifact unlocks memories of growing up queer in Charlottesville, Virginia, while navigating his parent's disability and confronting inherited family trauma. The stickers range from childhood rewards that decorated his earliest recollections to the political decals that later expressed his adult convictions. Hoke writes against the rising tide of white supremacist activity in his hometown, which culminated in the deadly August 12th terrorist attack that shocked the nation. Through these small but persistent objects, he examines how identity forms in fragments, how physical tokens endure while digital media dissolves, and how the smallest things can carry the weight of entire worlds. This compact memoir reveals how twenty simple stickers can map a life shaped by queerness, family complexity, and political awakening.
Genres: memoir, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, identity-formation
Setting: Charlottesville, Virginia
Period: 21st-century
148 pages · Paperback · Bloomsbury Academic
Content warnings: mental-illness