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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
loved this !! its a memoir-ish collection of pretty short chapters and "interludes," and he writes in a very funny charming way. sometimes he'll write inhabiting figures from the bible, mythology, or some classic literature and those sections are always creative and fun. he invokes the bible a lot as a way to communicate the emotional experience of transition, or bring up a story that would comfort him at certain points in life, and i loved those parts. overall definitely an emotionally volatile book, sometimes i would be laughing and then 5 pages later i would truly *need a minute* lol. lavery can beautifully find wisdom in so many places and it's fun to share in some of that!
funny
fast-paced
What a strange book. I like how it talks about transition in a very human way with all the panics ams doubts and surprises that are part of life. I also like some of the interjecting chapters where the author basically just talks about some media in funny ways but some of them were confusing or strange and I didn't really get it some of the time. But I did find myself quite enseared to the author. His writing style is very sweet and playful and you have to love him as you read even if you don't really get what he's saying. A bit like a small child or adult telling you about their niche interest but at least he does it in a funny way and I did get and enjoy and actually laugh out loud at a lot of it.
I loved what I could understand! But I think I would have appreciated much more if I had understood the many, many references to literature I haven’t read and Bible stories I haven’t heard in years.
I feel somewhat disingenuous giving this book 4 stars instead of five. If I could catch all of Lavery’s pop culture references, instead of merely the biblical and mythical, would I have understood the book better? **shrug**
Anyway, it’s always entertaining to attempt to keep up with Lavery’s wit.
Anyway, it’s always entertaining to attempt to keep up with Lavery’s wit.
I’m not normally one for non-fiction, let alone memoirs, but I’ll make all kinds of exceptions for Danny Lavery. Using tales from the Bible, Mean Girls, Arthurian legend, and Pretty in Pink, Lavery brings us through a story of transition. Using these other media properties, he talks about the first inklings of realizing he may he transgender all the way through medical transition.
With chapters titled ‘If you can’t parallel park, you have to get a sex change’, to ‘Captain James T Kirk is a beautiful lesbian, and I’m not exactly sure how to explain that’, to ‘Did you know that Athena used to be a tomboy?’, it’s a very engaging read. If you’ve ever had to contend with your religion, gender, or sexuality, this is definitely a memoir to check out.
This is a hard book to summarize because it covers so much ground, but if you’re looking for an amazing narrative non-fiction memoir - this is the one.
With chapters titled ‘If you can’t parallel park, you have to get a sex change’, to ‘Captain James T Kirk is a beautiful lesbian, and I’m not exactly sure how to explain that’, to ‘Did you know that Athena used to be a tomboy?’, it’s a very engaging read. If you’ve ever had to contend with your religion, gender, or sexuality, this is definitely a memoir to check out.
This is a hard book to summarize because it covers so much ground, but if you’re looking for an amazing narrative non-fiction memoir - this is the one.
Ortberg describes this work as memoir-adjacent, and that's too bad. The memoir part was great. The adjacent... not so much.
How can I write an unbiased review of Danny's book? I've been reading his work for seven years, from The Hairpin to the Toast to Dear Prudence. I'll do my best to try.
This is a collection of essays and interludes on subjects ranging from The Golden Girls' last episode to Dante's Inferno, from sobriety to the choice to start T, from "wrasslin'" with God to Destry Rides Again, from what masculinity means to why we narrate our lives to our dogs. Danny's humor is that of someone raised in evangelical christianity as well as contemporary pop culture, with a knowledge of Greek myths that continues to amaze me. It's not a straightforward "this is why I transitioned" memoir, it's beyond that-- it's an exploration of what it means to exist in this moment in this body and in this culture.
Because it can get pretty intense to read such densely-referred text, the chapters and interludes are short, allowing the reader to dip in and out as needed. Sure, this could be a quick read, but by piecing it out, you're more able to absorb all that's happening in the book. Highly recommended, and I just put the audiobook on hold because Danny reads it.
This is a collection of essays and interludes on subjects ranging from The Golden Girls' last episode to Dante's Inferno, from sobriety to the choice to start T, from "wrasslin'" with God to Destry Rides Again, from what masculinity means to why we narrate our lives to our dogs. Danny's humor is that of someone raised in evangelical christianity as well as contemporary pop culture, with a knowledge of Greek myths that continues to amaze me. It's not a straightforward "this is why I transitioned" memoir, it's beyond that-- it's an exploration of what it means to exist in this moment in this body and in this culture.
Because it can get pretty intense to read such densely-referred text, the chapters and interludes are short, allowing the reader to dip in and out as needed. Sure, this could be a quick read, but by piecing it out, you're more able to absorb all that's happening in the book. Highly recommended, and I just put the audiobook on hold because Danny reads it.
I went into this pretty cold, interest piqued by the description of the memoir and the irreverent, first hand view on transitioning. In a week, in a time, where the war against trans men and women has reached fever pitch, and I feel sick and worried about both the terrible inferences behind the handbag clutching ‘but what about the chiiiiiilllllllldren’ and also the very real, brutal attacks and murders on people who did nothing more than exist, and have been similarly ignored and forgotten about, this felt the right read.
Daniel Mallory Ortberg is an author who loves language. He loves playing with it, subverting well known myths and stories such as a number of knights of the Round Table, interwoven with prominent Biblical figures and William Shatner. While I didn’t ‘get’ all of the references, and I confess, I skipped through a couple of skits where I just don’t know enough about the original stories to get the references, I did enjoy this and got a lot out of it.
He’s trying to do a lot in one book – convey his journey from female born to male, in his own words and through his own experience, while being really careful to include everyone else’s journey and thought processes. It’s such a considered take, and it made me think a lot not just about how scary it must be to come to that realisation (he spends a large portion of both the memoir and the character skits sections talking about how he tried to ignore and run away from the solution he kept coming back to), but also how joyful it is.
It should be joyful – finally you’re able to stand up in your own skin and feel like the you you have always been. I get that. I loved reading about his friendships, the ones that have blossomed post transition. The section that references Nora Ephron’s ‘ I feel bad about my neck’ essay is great and manages to tackle a literally sore subject (neck acne caused by the massive doses of testosterone required to transition) and turn it into something that’s inclusive and light hearted. At no point, was it glamourised or any hard decisions ignored or made light of - it almost doesn't need saying but I wanted to make that really clear.
The structure jumped about a lot more than I had expected and perhaps, a little more than I liked, but I think that’s something I could have dealt with by dipping in and out. It’s not exactly a linear, end to end story, although there is a beginning and end, if that makes sense. I also realise that it’s completely my preference.
Another stand out essay was about William Shatner and more specifically, Columbo and the episodes Bill starred in. Columbo is a programme that is quietly and universally loved – Peter Falk embodied the rumpled detective so well, his death was a loss. He also contributed beyond Columbo, of course, with a pivotal role in The Princess Bride. A long running internet campaign to remake it with Mark Ruffalo in the title role has my support, although a newcomer in the form of Natasha Lyonne as the titular detective might overtake that. Anyway, his writing in this essay was so well described, so passionate and thoughtful that I understood what he meant even if I didn’t follow it all. That’s true for a fair few of the chapters and interludes – you might not understand all of the references, every one of the ideologies and foundational beliefs, but Ortberg writes so deftly I never felt lost.
I’d be keen to read some of his other stuff, especially his Dear Prudence letters (which I might actually have come across on twitter but hadn’t made the connection).
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Scribe UK for the Advanced Reader Copy. This is already out to buy so please feel free!
Daniel Mallory Ortberg is an author who loves language. He loves playing with it, subverting well known myths and stories such as a number of knights of the Round Table, interwoven with prominent Biblical figures and William Shatner. While I didn’t ‘get’ all of the references, and I confess, I skipped through a couple of skits where I just don’t know enough about the original stories to get the references, I did enjoy this and got a lot out of it.
He’s trying to do a lot in one book – convey his journey from female born to male, in his own words and through his own experience, while being really careful to include everyone else’s journey and thought processes. It’s such a considered take, and it made me think a lot not just about how scary it must be to come to that realisation (he spends a large portion of both the memoir and the character skits sections talking about how he tried to ignore and run away from the solution he kept coming back to), but also how joyful it is.
It should be joyful – finally you’re able to stand up in your own skin and feel like the you you have always been. I get that. I loved reading about his friendships, the ones that have blossomed post transition. The section that references Nora Ephron’s ‘ I feel bad about my neck’ essay is great and manages to tackle a literally sore subject (neck acne caused by the massive doses of testosterone required to transition) and turn it into something that’s inclusive and light hearted. At no point, was it glamourised or any hard decisions ignored or made light of - it almost doesn't need saying but I wanted to make that really clear.
The structure jumped about a lot more than I had expected and perhaps, a little more than I liked, but I think that’s something I could have dealt with by dipping in and out. It’s not exactly a linear, end to end story, although there is a beginning and end, if that makes sense. I also realise that it’s completely my preference.
Another stand out essay was about William Shatner and more specifically, Columbo and the episodes Bill starred in. Columbo is a programme that is quietly and universally loved – Peter Falk embodied the rumpled detective so well, his death was a loss. He also contributed beyond Columbo, of course, with a pivotal role in The Princess Bride. A long running internet campaign to remake it with Mark Ruffalo in the title role has my support, although a newcomer in the form of Natasha Lyonne as the titular detective might overtake that. Anyway, his writing in this essay was so well described, so passionate and thoughtful that I understood what he meant even if I didn’t follow it all. That’s true for a fair few of the chapters and interludes – you might not understand all of the references, every one of the ideologies and foundational beliefs, but Ortberg writes so deftly I never felt lost.
I’d be keen to read some of his other stuff, especially his Dear Prudence letters (which I might actually have come across on twitter but hadn’t made the connection).
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Scribe UK for the Advanced Reader Copy. This is already out to buy so please feel free!
A compact essay/memoir/humor collection that focuses on Ortberg's philosophy of transition - many essays touch on the physical and mental aspects of transitioning from one gender to another, with commentary from Ortberg's religious upbringing that often references Jacob wrestling with the Angel (apt, since Jacob is physically changed and renamed by the Angel at the end of their match). Interspersed among them are "interludes" that range from rejected chapter titles for this book to rewritten pieces of classical philosophy and poetry (a few of these got a bit over my head at times, particularly the Marcus Aurelius one).