what makes a setting "black"?

No idea. Which is one reason I couldn't say Anansi Boys was in one. Okay, the reason. They were just people, and some of them were Jamaican. Setting only arose in an attempt to draw or fail parallels with sexual orientation in fiction.

All I know is, I was reading Dumbledore and Grindelwald's relationship as romantic, and Snape and Lily's as platonic

This was exactly my reading.

I don't have the book in front of me, but after reading the text and then listening to the audiobook several times in a row, it became more and more clear when Dumbledore used terms along the lines of...'boy with a golden smile', or some such, that his feelings for Grindelwald were more than chummy. The torrid letter writing. The heartache of being separated from him, and then feeling betrayed by him. It all just seemed...normal.

When it first occurred to me, my eyebrow went up with an 'oh-hoe!' But then the notion that Dumbledore was gay simply became part of the tapestry.

I'm struck now...that it didn't strike me as odd.

I'm struck now...that it didn't strike me as odd.

The man does wear funky boots.

Seven Clues that Dumbledore was gay

Yeah, OK. I have no problem with Rowling not putting everything she knows about her characters in her work; most good writers know stuff about their characters that is not in the text - although by not putting it in the text they leave their work open to equally valid alternative readings.

But she put a fair amount of trivia in the work. Even if she did not see it as essential to the series did she not understand that it would have been far from trivial to many readers? Honestly, is there any shortage of sentences she could have cut out to make room for something along the lines people here have suggested "I was blinded by his beauty for a time"?

Do they actually say the character's races in Anansi Boys?

I don't think any of the black characters are ever described with the word "black," if that's what you're asking, but I think there are a couple of instances where a character's skin color is mentioned or implied. I remember Rosie's mom, for example, is described as resembling Eartha Kitt. Which doesn't necessarily mean that she'd be black, but that's certainly what I would assume until told otherwise.

The story would also have to take place in a setting where, to some extent, queer was the default.

Anansi Boys didn't take place in a black setting as far as I could tell.

Is Jamaica not a setting where one might assume that most people you meet will not be white? I'm honestly asking, as that was the impression I got from the book. I'm not sure what a "black setting" would be, exactly, but I do think that Anansi Boys took place in a setting where I found it easy to believe that most of the characters we met weren't white.

I think the question of whether you can parallel Anansi Boys with a story that treats sexuality in a similar way is interesting, but I'm not sure I can answer it fully. I can say pretty definitely, though, that J.K. Rowling's story is not that story.

I find it hard to make the leap from that to "being gay in the HP universe is totally not a big deal!" when we're given nothing else to support that reading.

I didn't say she'd succeeded in portraying that world. I just meant that may have been her thinking. (Which means I agree with you.)

Sorry, Emily, I did understand that you and I were in agreement. I was just taking your point and running with it.

I think the question of whether you can parallel Anansi Boys with a story that treats sexuality in a similar way is interesting, but I'm not sure I can answer it fully. I can say pretty definitely, though, that J.K. Rowling's story is not that story.

But Boy Meets Boy, a YA book, might be close. Not my favorite book. But it does create a non heteronormative world.

Also I think Swordspoint was a non-hetronormative world -- though I'm not sure queer identity existed in it as such. There was not much concern with genitals of sex partner, and much of the sex was between people with matching genitals types.

Is Jamaica not a setting where one might assume that most people you meet will not be white?

Well...I wouldn't. I know people are surprised by white and "Chinese" and "Indian" Jamaicans, but they're completely and totally run of the mill. If someone told me Jamaican I would assume they've told me nothing about their race, just as if they'd told me Latino.

Add on top of that him almost using the name of a big white Jamaican family...even less so.

Snape and lily - I saw as friends. I believe Snape wanted more, but they never got any where close to romantic.

D/G - their relationship was certainly passionate. I don't know if it was ever consummated. I never really put a label to their relationship. If someone had asked me if they were a couple- I would have been startled at my missing the obvious. ( I do this in real life too). ( I can be very clueless)

The original interview question is interesting. With everything revealed in book 7 , It is clear that that Dumbledore couldn't trust himself to love anyone again. ( but it was a kid that asked, right?)

I can see the point: and adding a line or so would have made things clearer, and wouldn't have hurt. But I am going to assume that JKR left it out because she didn't find a way to put it in. ( not saying it was impossible - but she didn't find away for that and 1000 other details)