Reviews with content warning for Dysphoria - Between Perfect and Real

very sweet trans theatre kid story, felt very reminiscent of like, the show trinkets, but more trans. & it’s nice that there are many queer storylines in television to refer back to, and even more possibilities in literature. though i do agree with reviews that with as many issues that are parsed through in the book via dialogue with other characters or dean’s stream of consciousness, the author could’ve and should’ve found a way to more explicitly present zoe’s experience sensitively.

we were given a window into the perspectives of other primary characters like ronnie’s and jade’s, which was done to fully form the characters And be realistic depictions for people of their identities. yet despite zoe’s conflicting feelings being a *hugely* essential part of the plot, her grappling with her love for dean and her sexuality didn't feel like it was handled in a way that felt like zoe was being written well as her own character (instead of just the romantic lead opposite our MC that disappoints him), let alone as a lesbian. frankly, the lesbian and trans communities (which aren’t two separate things) have gone through this exact scenario too many times (plus this author said they had sensitivity betas, so what gives) for us to have to write about the experience poorly

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calyx018's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I am in love with the trans rep in this book. It's something much needed that is important. But, there was a big issue that kinda made me iffy about the book. And that was the relationship with the MC and his girlfriend

the MC ends up coming out as trans. Which isn't the problem. Him and his lesbian gf tried to make it work. But there was NO communication with them. And she's not even into men. So, obviously, they broke up. But when they broke up the MC was pissed. And he was mad at her and basically made her out to be the bad guy. Which I really hated

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thebookpaiges's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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bruhbruh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Made me cry

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ivan_levitt's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

4.0

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sopesock's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

i really liked reading this.

"Between perfect and real" follows dean as he comes out as trans during his last year of high school.
so far i've only read books with trans characters who were already out, so this was a new perspective.
as a cis (?) person (????? as a person who is not currently considering correcting people assuming i am cis? ) it's difficult to imagine JUST how hard that entire process of coming out is. that phase when not everyone knows yet, someone taking your choice to come out away from you, and having to deal with cis grief all while managing transphobia and dysphoria - these were all themes stoeve depicted very well.
i think this book is so important and informative in that way.

considering the fact the book does and has to touch onto some potentially triggering topics (see cw's), i want to say well done to how the author executed this.
dean going by that name even before he was out was a smart way to avoid dropping his deadname.
(i'm thinking of the melissa/george debacle -- as a bookseller it really gets you in a tricky situation when the character is consistently deadnamed throughout a book because that makes recommending it extremely difficult and confusing; also and more importantly it might make it seem like an okay thing to do to uninformed readers)
it is just completely irrelevant to the reader to know the mc's deadname, so i was glad it was never mentioned.
in general there was just a good balance between depicting trans- and homophobia realistically without it being too violent or triggering.

plot-wise -- i liked that not everything works out for him and romance was not the end goal. i'm having a hard time reviewing this, but the point is i enjoyed it, even if it wasn't a five star read as i did have some problems with how zoe's and dean's relationship was written.
((((slight spoilers from here)))

it was basically clear from the beginning that things wouldn't work out between them, but i was so confused at times bc there were so many little moments of support from zoe that seemed very genuine only for her to suddenly make problematic comments out of the blue. i felt like it wasn't in character, or that her character just wasn't well thought out. the way we got to know her in the beginning, i would have expected her to talk openly about her concerns with dean's transition, not suddenly be bitchy about it. i guess i was a little disappointed in how all that was executed.

so i really can't give five stars.

nevertheless i will be recommending this --
it's as much a book for the community as it is from the community to people looking to understand what it means to be trans.

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