Alligator Tears: A Memoir in Essays

Alligator Tears is a memoir that doesn’t flinch—from poverty, from queerness, from rage, from joy. Edgar Gomez offers a searing yet tender series of essays tracing a coming-of-age shaped by broken systems and impossible expectations. The story begins with a stroke and an ambulance too expensive to call, and spirals through minimum wage jobs, racist school programs, queer Latin clubs in the shadow of Pulse, and the bitter inheritance of American “opportunity.”Gomez writes with biting wit and raw clarity about the class realities so many of us are told to survive with silence. Whether recounting their mom’s bankruptcy filed in the same breath as gifting veneers, or watching white shoppers waltz through a mall staffed entirely by Black and brown workers, Gomez refuses the false comfort of bootstraps narratives. These essays are especially sharp in their depiction of familial love that is both fierce and fraught—his mother, a Nicaraguan immigrant turned Starbucks barista, is both his anchor and his wound.As a queer Latin American kid growing up in Orlando, Gomez’s journey into identity is marked by MySpace boys, theater crushes, YouTube influencer aspirations, and the slow unfurling of selfhood in the aftermath of rejection. His queerness glitters through every page, even when dulled by loneliness, toxic masculinity, or cultural silence. This book holds queer joy, too—not just the kind found in nightclubs and love stories, but the quiet victory of embracing your femininity and being seen without being exoticized.If you’ve ever been told you had to work harder, be nicer, or take up less space to deserve stability, this memoir will meet you like a mirror and a machete. Alligator Tears isn’t about overcoming—it’s about exposing the game, surviving on your own terms, and laughing with all your (fake) teeth.📖 Read this if you love: class-conscious queer memoirs, sharp humor layered with emotional depth, and stories that hold both love and resentment for family and culture.🔑 Key Themes: Queer Coming-of-Age, Cycles of Poverty and Survival, Femme Visibility and Machismo, the Myths of Labor and Class. Familial Estrangement and Cultural Silence.

Marcos is my favorite character.

Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing Group for this ARC.I really enjoyed this memoir. Edgar Gomez is a second generation NicaRican writer who grew up in poverty largely due to the limited opportunities available to his parents. Throughout the book, Edgar’s mother holds down multiple jobs just to provide for her two, young boys – the stress of it all leading to multiple health complications throughout her life. As he gets older, Edgar inherits similar struggles, as he works his ass off to create a stable, happy life for himself. Complicated further by the prejudice that accompanies being an out, young queer kid in Florida. Even still, Edgar is able to find the joy, beauty and humor from all corners of his life.There are times where Edgar’s writing style felt a little green, but the more I read, the more I appreciated its rawness. It’s through his unfiltered voice that we experience the nuances, humor and vulnerability of his journey.In my wildest dreams, everyone who voted for Trump would read this and feel compassion for the immigrant experience. But, given the current climate, I know better than to be an idealist. So…my current dream is that at least a handful do. Because Edgar’s story deserves to be told. In a world where hateful rhetoric from our leaders shapes a harmful narrative about our neighbors — Edgar’s story highlights the truth of the real, hardworking, joyful, community-minded people that make our world a more beautiful place.