Review: Naturally Tan by Tan France

This book was so dichotomous. I would go through periods of thinking "I guess this is fine??" to "wow this is so honest/funny/interesting!" The first 40% ish I would have given two stars and the last 40% I would give five stars (the middle was my transition between the two).

My Tan credentials: I have watched season one and some of season two of Queer Eye, Tan was probably my favorite but I think it is SUPER mean to rank them so they might all be my favorite, I follow him on Instagram, and I have seen/heard quite a few interviews he has done alone or with the rest of the Fab Five.

The writing of this book was so jarring, especially early on. It does not read like any memoir I have read before, which could work super well for you, but for me, it was a distraction from what was being said until I was about halfway through. Tan's co-writer needed to step it up a little. I almost put this book down so many times in the beginning because this book did not feel book shaped. I think this would be a fun audiobook experience because you would feel more like you were in conversation with Tan and that would probably be a much more enjoyable experience. I felt like I was reading a script. A slightly rambling and occasionally repetitive script. This feeling did alleviate about halfway through the book.

The stories in the beginning of the novel were interesting, but the writing made them feel very far away, it was hard to feel the emotional impact from these stories when they felt closed off. I think this is probably because of how distracting I found the writing.

I felt the emotion hardcore when he started to talk about his relationship with Rob. It was so sweet and vulnerable and funny. I don't know if the prose pulled back a little or if I got used to it, but this was where I began to read without being pulled out of the experience. The ring section is terrific. The Netflix story was fun and exciting, and the wedding part killed me. It was so funny. That chapter was magic. And Tan and Rob seem to have a wonderful relationship that seems so healthy and wonderful. He isn’t afraid to talk about his flaws, and he emphasizes their commitment to working on their marriage in such a real way. I really loved that part of the book.

Something that was surprising to me is I found Tan condescending at times, especially when he was talking about women. The way women dress (which, fine you're a fashion person I’ll defer to your expertise), the way women do their hair (personal bias alert: he does call out my hair), the way women behave. I don’t find men telling me how to be a woman appealing. He tells women not to dress for men but to dress for other women or themselves then goes on to reinforce clothing/hair tips by saying something isn’t appealing to men. He talked about how every woman he had worked with was "bitchy" to other women and that if we would all just lift up each other, it would be better. I was so caught off guard by this mansplaining of female empowerment. You must know a significant portion of your readership is going to be women. Maybe pulling back a tiny bit would have been nice.

It is good to have strong opinions but maybe investigate any underlying sexism/classism before you publish them. I think that because Queer Eye trained us to think of Tan and associate with positivity and empowerment, I was a little more jarred by this that I would have been if he was on almost any other TV show. Which might be unfair but it was how I reacted.

This is not to say all of the content was condescending, not at all! Most of the book I genuinely enjoyed, and not just the cheerful parts! I was surprised by how interested I was in the business part of the book. It was fascinating, I would have read 100 pages of how he built his businesses up, and I was low key bummed when he said it was too dull to get into the intricacies of selling them.

I was also super interested in the immigration process! We get a second love story between Tan and Salt Lake City/America at large that I found really endearing. I have never wanted to go to Salt Lake City, but now I want to pop by sometime.

I also was very invested in the parts where he talks about representation, racism, and homophobia. Especially the way he has dealt with internalized racism and homophobia. It felt very honest and heartbreaking and brings home how dier it is to see yourself represented around you.

Something else I very much enjoyed was the way he talked about fame and its impact on his life. I always find this fascinating and Tan seems to handle it very well. I loved how open he was about money and attention and how some of his relationships and boundaries have changed as a result.

Last bit of gushing, the structure, and illustrations at the chapter headings were wonderful! The structure was so fun, each heading was an interesting gateway into a story, or a collection of them, from Tan's life in an entertaining way. And the illustrations were lovely, they seem to have been done by Rob France, but I do not have confirmation at this time.

Tan is also just incredibly relatable. I LOVE an "I told you so" I love them so much. I don't get to do them often enough, I chicken out especially when it is something serious, but I relish them. We both hate our friends dating people they want to change; we are both non-drinking non-dancing dweebs, both have major secondhand embarrassment. And the most relatable line in the book: "I'd love to be a better person, but I just like being right. And baked goods." I felt this line so hard.

I want to reiterate that I think much of what I found jarring about the writing early on might not be an issue if I had listened to an audiobook.