Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - None of the Above

This book was informative (written by a surgeon) and a good start for teens who want to learn about intersex people. The book used homophobic and transphobic slurs, as well as the word “hermaphrodite,” but the author’s intent was to educate readers on why those words are wrong. I have a lot to respect for the author’s choice to do that, and I think it really helped demonstrate the discrimination and prejudice that intersex people face. It was good that this book was educational, but I found a lot of flaws in the plot and characters. I feel like the author piled on every issue she knew girls with AIS struggled with onto the main character Kristin, and it became unrealistic. At one point I thought her life could not get worse, but then it did. Kristin’s personality was erratic:

she never checked her social media out of fear and tried to cope by going clubbing. Highlighting bad coping mechanisms can show readers what not to do, but she barely thinks afterwards about how what she does isn’t helping her feel better.

I also found the ending to happen too quickly and perfectly.

When she is unfortunately sexually assaulted, Darren comes to the rescue and they fight off the man together. Everything is good at the end after Darren becomes her boyfriend, but there’s no clear acceptance or move towards acceptance of her body with AIS. It’s like now that she’s desirable, everything is good.

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lilz0190's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

3.75

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space_bandit's review against another edition

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emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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miyothecat's review against another edition

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sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Disclaimer: I’m a nonbinary person who is not intersex so I don’t know the exact experience of intersex people. I would love to hear more opinions of intersex people about this book if anyone wants to share.

This book is so bad. First of all, the author is a cisgender woman who is a urologist and got “inspired” by a patinet. Which is only one of the many problems about this book. The story is so centered around being disgusted with being intersex and it just revolves around intense bullying and self hatred. As if intersex people are supposed to hate themselves because they are different. The author used the word “freak” so much that I think she is actually convinced intersex people are freaks. There’s a lot of homophobia and transphobia along with heteronormativity and cisnormativity. Almost all of the homophobic and transphobic slurs you can think of is in this book. Lgbtq+ people and in this case especially intersex people aren’t your tragedy.

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