Quick Take
- Narration: Jonathan Van Ness reading their own essays is the only way this book should exist in audio form, the performance is inseparable from the content.
- Themes: LGBTQIA+ advocacy, personal identity and style, grief and healing, imposter syndrome
- Mood: Candid, warm, and occasionally combative in the most productive sense
- Verdict: A collection of personal essays where Van Ness’s voice and personality carry the material in ways that the page alone cannot fully replicate.
I was about halfway through my morning commute when Jonathan Van Ness started a segment in Love That Story about the queer history of their hometown, and I found myself genuinely surprised. I had come in expecting a companion piece to Over the Top, warm, personal, emotionally engaging, and I got that, but I also got something more researched and argumentative than I anticipated. By the time I reached my destination I had sent a text to two different friends telling them to get on this audiobook immediately.
This collection of essays, Van Ness’s follow-up to their New York Times-bestselling memoir, covers territory that is both deeply personal and deliberately public: cannabis reform, LGBTQIA+ rights, the HIV safety net, grief and healing, personal style, and imposter syndrome. The connective tissue holding all of it together is Van Ness’s approach to what they call getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, a phrase that could easily sound like a motivational poster but lands differently when it’s grounded in specific, lived detail about surviving sexual abuse, managing an HIV diagnosis, and building a public identity that is simultaneously joyful and politically meaningful.
Our Take on Love That Story
The essays are not uniform in tone or ambition, which is a feature rather than an inconsistency. Some are light and celebratory, a meditation on the evolution of Van Ness’s signature style, for instance, while others carry substantial weight, particularly the sections dealing with the HIV safety net and the queer history investigation. What holds them together is Van Ness’s consistent willingness to correct assumptions, including their own. One reviewer noted that Van Ness writes to correct our wrong thinking, and that framing is apt. The essays have an educative quality that never tips into lecturing because it is always rooted in personal experience rather than abstracted argument.
The collection’s central preoccupation is with learning to embrace change while doing the interior work necessary to challenge internalized beliefs. Those are large claims for any essay collection to make good on. Love That Story succeeds at this unevenly, some essays land with force, others feel like sketches, but the overall effect is genuine. Reviewers who had followed Van Ness through the Getting Curious podcast or Queer Eye found that this collection deepened their sense of who Van Ness is rather than simply repeating familiar material. That’s not a small accomplishment for a celebrity’s second book.
Why Listen to Love That Story
The narration here is not a separate consideration from the content, Van Ness reading their own essays is effectively the definitive version of this book. Multiple reviewers described the experience of really hearing JVN’s voice as they read, which in audio form becomes literal rather than metaphorical. The cadences, the humor, the moments of genuine vulnerability, they land differently when you are hearing them directly rather than reconstructing them from text. One reviewer put it simply: it just made me love them more. That’s the particular power of author-narrated essays, and Van Ness deploys it fully.
The running time of just under six hours makes this a good candidate for a weekend listen or a commute series. The essays are short enough to work in standalone segments, you can pause at essay breaks without losing narrative continuity, which suits the listening habits of people who have to take audio in irregular chunks. The format is genuinely flexible in a way that many audiobooks are not.
What to Watch For in Love That Story
One thing worth naming: the essays are written from a specific political and ideological vantage point, and Van Ness is not neutral or dispassionate about the causes they engage with. This is a strength for listeners who share those values, but the book makes no effort to build bridges across ideological difference. It speaks to an audience that has already arrived at certain conclusions about LGBTQIA+ rights, HIV advocacy, and cannabis reform, and it engages those listeners in the ongoing project of doing the work rather than persuading skeptics. If you are looking for a book that steelmans multiple positions, this is not that book. If you are looking for a book that helps you think more carefully from within a particular perspective, it delivers.
A few of the essays are thinner than others, the personal style section, in particular, is charming but slight compared to the political essays that surround it. The collection’s weight is distributed unevenly, and the sequencing occasionally puts lighter material where you might expect heavier. These are minor structural complaints in a collection that works well overall.
Who Should Listen to Love That Story
Anyone who loved Over the Top and wants more time with Van Ness’s voice and perspective will find this collection rewarding. Fans of the Getting Curious podcast who want something more sustained than interview episodes will similarly be well-served. It’s a natural choice for readers interested in LGBTQIA+ memoir and essay writing, particularly work that moves between the personal and the political without abandoning either. If you have never encountered Van Ness’s work and you are skeptical of celebrity essay collections, this particular one is more substantive than most, but starting with Over the Top first would give you the fuller arc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to have read Over the Top before listening to Love That Story?
No, but having that context enriches the experience. Love That Story builds on the personal history Van Ness established in Over the Top, and some of the emotional weight of the grief and HIV sections lands with additional force if you already know their story. That said, each essay is self-contained enough to be followed independently.
How does Jonathan Van Ness handle the narration of essays that deal with genuinely painful material, the HIV diagnosis, grief, sexual abuse, given their reputation for high energy and humor?
With real skill, actually. Van Ness modulates their register significantly across the collection. The lighter essays have the warmth and comedy you might expect, but the sections dealing with trauma and illness are delivered with genuine gravity. The contrast makes both registers more effective, and it’s a performance that demonstrates range most listeners won’t have anticipated.
Is Love That Story as politically explicit as it sounds? Will it feel preachy?
It is explicitly political, particularly in the essays on cannabis reform, LGBTQIA+ rights, and HIV advocacy. Whether it feels preachy depends on your relationship to those subjects. Van Ness speaks from a specific position without apology, and the essays are persuasive rather than neutral. Listeners who share those values will find it energizing; listeners who don’t will likely find it difficult to get through.
Is this audiobook suitable for someone unfamiliar with Queer Eye or the Getting Curious podcast?
Yes, though some of the cultural context and affection that listeners bring from those platforms adds warmth to the listening experience. The essays themselves provide enough personal context that newcomers to Van Ness’s work can follow everything. The investigative essay on queer history, in particular, works entirely on its own terms without needing any prior familiarity.
