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smittonwith's review
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
A Year Without A Name, is an important read for anyone seeking to understand a bit more about the gender spectrum. This book is a short read, and follows the narrative of a white, trans, queer person as they journey through life and the understanding of what it all means for them. The foreword and afterword of this book are important and I would suggest reading both to fully round out the main section of this book. If you’ve ever had questions about your gender performance or seek to understand someone else’s expression, this book is a good starting point. There are many good quotes in this book, as well as thoughts to come back to. One of my favorite quotes is, “Conviction comes in bursts, as does fraudulence. Sometimes I say “Cyrus” out loud and there’s a click of alignment. But Cyrus is also tentative, a liberating gesture that I always fear will be taken from me when I’m yanked back to reality by the “truth.” That I’m a girl, and a daughter, and that to claim anything else is to lie. That I’m consigned to being a liar forever.”
tuesdaymendoza's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
4.25
This book, in my opinion, is receiving rather harsh critiques. I think the confusing timeline, though acknowledged, does impact the reader experience. That could be leading to the comments on this being “like a therapy session.”
This is a personal memoir. He’s not claiming to represent all trans people. Just because a book doesn’t read like a buzz feed article doesn’t make it pretentious. Does he have privilege? Of course, but he acknowledges this and the book is still insightful. Will update later.
This is a personal memoir. He’s not claiming to represent all trans people. Just because a book doesn’t read like a buzz feed article doesn’t make it pretentious. Does he have privilege? Of course, but he acknowledges this and the book is still insightful. Will update later.
lillimoore's review
3.0
I struggled with getting into this book and I think Cyrus Grace Dunham did as well, but it found its footing in the last 30% or so and eventually did provide some really amazing insight into gender dysphoria and FtM transitioning. The beginning of this book just felt so meandering and convoluted and the metaphors throughout felt forced and overdone—honestly, as a reader, if I have to suffer through one more goddamn butterfly metaphor I'm giving up on the hobby altogether. Perhaps the book did this intentionally, because just like its author, it eventually did find itself and come together, but it suffered greatly in getting there. I think it would have been better off as an essay collection with a bit more structure and organization than it had because so often I was confused and I felt like I was blacking out between different stories even though I was fully conscious throughout reading the book. I frequently struggled to understand how one point connected to the next and often felt directionless.
The end of this book and Dunham's description of coming out to his family and getting top surgery were very gratifying and I'm glad I didn't DNF the book early on when I really wanted to because I did enjoy the end enough—not enough to recommend the book, but enough to recommend Dunham's Instagram account (WHEW he's a looker) and to mention that many of the highlights of this book were more succinctly collected and published in the New Yorker, so skip the book and check out the article instead.
The end of this book and Dunham's description of coming out to his family and getting top surgery were very gratifying and I'm glad I didn't DNF the book early on when I really wanted to because I did enjoy the end enough—not enough to recommend the book, but enough to recommend Dunham's Instagram account (WHEW he's a looker) and to mention that many of the highlights of this book were more succinctly collected and published in the New Yorker, so skip the book and check out the article instead.
augustlight's review
5.0
I lost count of how many times had the thought SOMEONE LIKE ME, SOMEONE PUT IT INTO WORDS while reading this. The reading experience made my body dysphoria skyrocket and was akin to being kicked in the stomach repeatedly. I had to take like half a dozen breaks to get my feelings out in song form, and all the songs were godawful. Five stars.
wordnerdknitter's review against another edition
2.25
I suppose it's a mark of progress in some direction that there are now extremely mediocre trans memoirs written and published. This feels like a book that got published almost solely because the author has a famous sister and some connections - it begins to explore some interesting ideas, but falls prey to the all-too-common trap of writing about your own transition while extremely early in transitioning, and as if no one else has ever thought or experienced the things you're thinking and experiencing. There are other books doing the same work and doing it better.
heidisreads's review
Did not finish. YET. I was listening to the audiobook and having trouble connecting to the character and story. I am going to try reading it instead!