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Top of the pile
92
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
97/100Critics
87/100Scholars
Author:
Billy Porter
Publisher:
Harry N. Abrams
Date:
October 19, 2021
Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic Emmy-winning performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the Tony and Grammy Award-winning star of Broadway's Kinky Boots, Porter was a young boy in Pittsburgh who was seen as different, who didn't fit in.
What The Reviewers Say
Porter has built a career on blending theater excellence, gospel grandiosity and reading-for-filth realness, all through the astonishing instrument of his voice. This combination is vividly translated in Porter’s new memoir, Unprotected, which recounts his lifelong struggle to heal the deep wounds buried under the sheen of his charismatic presence.
... stirring.
... an unfiltered look at many of Porter’s highest and lowest moments, some of which seem designed to make readers as uncomfortable as he was. Others show what can be achieved via hard work and a steadfast dedication to authenticity.
... wit, sass, projected confidence, his Blackness, his queerness. These are parts of his voice that he’s never without for long. It makes many of the stories seem like two things at once: they are both unprotected and heavily guarded, revealing and defensive, rubbed raw and bulletproof, sometimes alternating so quickly between the two extremes that one might assume that there are two Billys authoring the book.
