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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
Personally I'd probably give it like a 2.5, but I know it's just not at all for me, so I don't want to mess up the rating.
SO MANY ESSAYS I WANT ALL MY FRIENDS TO READ; SOME FAVORITES WERE “MY BROTHERS,” “PARALLEL PARK,” “UNWANTED COMING-OUT DISORDER,” “THE STAGES OF NOT GOING ON T,” “DUCKIE,” “I LOVE YOUR VIBE,” AND “HOW I INTEND TO COMPORT MYSELF WHEN I HAVE ABS SOMEDAY”
reflective
medium-paced
Some of the essays are elucidating and thought-provoking, but others keep the reader at a distance. I suspect there is a memoir left in this author, and maybe that will be more satisfying.
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book is unlike anything I’ve read before. A memoir, but also literary criticism, cultural commentary, biblical study, and creative rewritings?! Super well-written, intelligent, funny, and inventive. I highly recommend it.
It took me four months to read this one when I picked it up, despite the humor that made me audibly laugh as I was reading and pulled me in. However, there's a lot going on here. It feels like every chapter and interlude demands your full attention in one way or another. The absolute best chapters are the ones dealing directly with religion and Biblical scripture (at least for this agnostic-raised-in-evangelical-Christianity) and those will be the ones I read over and over. I also apologize in advance to all of my therapists, friends, coworkers, and other associates as I will quote (and probably misquote) Something extensively to try and explain my thoughts on trans identity and transition in the future.
i most enjoyed daniel weaving through his own feelings about his transition and the more personal elements of this book. they were vulnerable and funny at the same time. that said, i did enjoy the trans reading of the western canon. i just... don’t love the western canon and wasn’t familiar with all the source material so some of it went over my head.
i also really enjoyed his takes on pop culture and which cis male characters are lesbians and analysis of t4t couples.
i also really enjoyed his takes on pop culture and which cis male characters are lesbians and analysis of t4t couples.
This is one of those books that can be described as a hell of a thing. As a portrait of a person going through the combination of a transition, wrestling with the religious way he was bought up, and unknowingly, estrangement from his family for completely different reasons, this is an incredibly accurate portrayal of the headspace. As a coherent whole.... not so much. This seems to be a combination of essays about his transition, newsletter content that he repurposed, and work that’s along the lines of the more shitpostier work he did at The Toast but with a way more religous/trans bent than in the past. This feels like two separate smaller books that Lavery decided at the last minute to throw together as a single manuscript. The writing is great. I almost wonder if this could’ve waited a bit longer before coming out.
I found it too pedantic and too high brow for casual reading.
I like all of Lavery fka Ortberg's work so I am disappointed to admit I was bored and bewildered by this.
Fantastic personal essay collection on the author's transition by the former co-founder of The Toast. That's one way to describe this book, but there's a better, more nuanced way as well. I'll write it when I figure it out. It's a great book. Highly recommended.