Naturally Tan
By: Tan France
Published Year: 2019
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 304
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): In this heartfelt, funny, touching memoir, Tan France, star of Netflix's smash-hit QUEER EYE, tells his origin story for the first time. With his trademark wit, humor, and radical compassion, Tan reveals what it was like to grow up gay in a traditional Muslim family, as one of the few people of color in Doncaster, England. He illuminates his winding journey of coming of age, finding his voice (and style!), and how he finally came out to his family at the age of 34, revealing that he was happily married to the love of his life--a Mormon cowboy from Salt Lake City.
In Tan's own words, "The book is meant to spread joy, personal acceptance, and most of all understanding. Each of us is living our own private journey, and the more we know about each other, the healthier and happier the world will be."
First Impressions
I absolutely adored Queer Eye when it first came out. When I saw that Tan had written an autobiography I was immediately sold. I love the yellow cover. I also listened to this book on audiobook and was excited that it was read by Tan himself.
What I thought
If you are a fan of Queer Eye I definitely recommend this book. It was interesting getting to know more about Tan as a person and about his history. It will definitely make me look at him a little differently in the next season.
I think that there are times where he gets a bit snarky and hypocritical, but also it makes you remember he’s just a random guy. He’s not perfect and he’s not necessarily someone who is meant to be looked at as a hero. He has done some great things and brought a light to a type of person that didn’t have one before, but that by no means means he’s faultless and can do no wrong.
My favorite parts of the book were learning about where Tan came from, how he met his husband, and how he ended up on Queer Eye. He went into a lot of detail about this and I really liked it. The parts I didn’t like were the ones where he was giving advice. I know that he’s in fashion, but it felt like it all came off very harsh. I also learned that he loves Salt Lake City and Mormons and that did explain a lot of it. For example, he is all about modest is hottest. He just sometimes used the excuse of “I’m blunt and honest” a few too many times for my personal taste.
While I now know that Tan and I would never be friends, I greatly enjoyed getting to know him more and understand him on a different level. I highly recommend listening to this on audiobook as it really let me hear the nuance and emphasis of his words. There also were a few bonus moments. If you’re a fan of Queer Eye and haven’t picked this up, you need to. I’m now going to try to devour all of the rest of the boys’ autobiographies.