The Black Flamingo (Audiobook Review)

Told in prose, The Black Flamingo follows the story of a young black British boy as he grows up, comes out, and discovers drag.

Starting at age six and progressing into his college years, the story is a snapshot into Michael’s life. An interesting and relatable character, Michael’s story lends itself well to exploring experiences that will be familiar to many. And the idea of the black flamingo is a fitting and engaging motif to express his journey to readers throughout the story.

“Come out for yourself.
Come out to yourself.
Shout, sing it.
Softly stutter.
Correct those who say they knew before you did.
That’s not how sexuality works, it’s yours to define.”

Unfortunately, the length of this book doesn’t lend itself well to the scope of the story, making it feel rushed at times and overall too surface-level. And the writing style is overly simplistic even for the young audience it’s intended for, making the narration seem almost childish even as the story quickly outgrows Michael’s younger mindset.

The Black Flamingo attempts to take on hard-hitting topics like racism, homophobia, interracial identity, and more but doesn’t dive deeply enough into them. Perhaps this is a way to keep the story focused on joy and success rather than sadness like so many other stories like this one, which is an understandable inclination. Yet the simplest way to bring joy to the story (through Micheal’s discovery of drag and performing) isn’t featured nearly as much as the synopsis might suggest.

For a story written in prose, I would also anticipate a greater emotional impact than what is delivered on. And the time spent on uninteresting experiences and mundane text conversations was unnecessary and unexciting, taking up page space that the more important topics should have had.

“This book is a fairy tale in which I am the prince and the princess. I am the king and the queen.  I am my own wicked witch and fairy godmother.  This book is a fairy tale in which I’m cursed and blessed by others.  But, finally, I am the fairy  finding my own magic.”

Overall, the writing ends up feeling too much like prose pigeon-holed into verse and lacks the imagery, metaphor, and deeper meanings that makeup more powerful poetry. In all but one or two passages, the book felt too much like an underdeveloped story sliced up into stanzas. And Atta’s lackluster performance in the audiobook only makes the writing even less engaging and emotional.

I rated The Black Flamingo 2.5 out of 5 stars and would recommend The Poet X instead to those looking for an emotionally impactful story told through poetry.

You can find The Black Flamingo, The Poet X, and other audiobooks for free on Scribd.