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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
I’m not sure how to rate this book. It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve finished. I love and respect the form, but I didn’t want to read all of the essays. Some of them were so specific in what they were referencing, but didn’t explain what they were referencing, and so I couldn’t really understand them. They made me feel like I’d skipped the required reading before a class, and then showed up to a lecture and was appropriately befuddled. But then, I would just skip them, nothing more or less than that. It felt right for such a deeply personal collection of essays, that some would be so personal that I wouldn’t “get” them, because I wasn’t familiar with the work that the author was basing their whole essay around, or riffing off of, or creating a fake dialogue between fake characters.
The prose reminded me of poetry, or Shakespeare, in the sense that I didn’t always understand what each of the individual words meant (or even some of the sentences), but if I stuck along with it and kept reading I could pick up on the flow of the words, and a meaning would arise from that flow.
I also REALLY liked that so much of the text alluded to in this book was the Bible itself. Seeing a queer and trans person reference the Bible and demonstrate their deep knowledge and understanding of a text that is so often weaponized against the LGBT community felt very right to me. It demonstrated that queer people and the Bible / Christianity aren’t naturally at conflicts with each other—that’s a fabrication of Christians who happen to also hate gay people and weaponize the Bible against us. There are a lot of stories in the Bible that can resonate with anyone, even (especially?) a trans person.
I also REALLY liked that so much of the text alluded to in this book was the Bible itself. Seeing a queer and trans person reference the Bible and demonstrate their deep knowledge and understanding of a text that is so often weaponized against the LGBT community felt very right to me. It demonstrated that queer people and the Bible / Christianity aren’t naturally at conflicts with each other—that’s a fabrication of Christians who happen to also hate gay people and weaponize the Bible against us. There are a lot of stories in the Bible that can resonate with anyone, even (especially?) a trans person.
In conclusion: it was weird, it was confusing. I liked it.
I am torn on this, parts of this book were lovely oddly smart and angled in ways I didn't think of. Other parts felt deliberately postmodern and very confusing. I get the feeling that this author is always the smartest person in the room and his knowledge of Christianity,Classic literature, and trans identity/theory (terms etc), is something I kept fighting to catch up with and in some cases deliberately skimmed the essays because I just lost interest, it was too much work. But other essays like the ones on hans christian Andersen and the Dante one with a quote from the music man demonstrate that a wide wide knowledge of both pop culture and classic literature can make really odd and unthought on connections, but can also mean you have to spend A LOT of time explaining the text/video and not enough connecting to the reader. I will admit, I liked the personal essays the best, the ones that talked a little about christian upbringing, and about transitioning and self doubt. I am not trans, but it was good to read a persons journey including inconsistencies in their steps. So in total for me, there is a good writer behind this book, but I wanted more editing (and possibly vulnerability), and yet grateful for the reading experience, it was something new and more than I knew before.
Uneven collection of essays that range from moving and profound reflections on transition, identity, and relationships to obscure reimagining of classic works and popular culture. A lot of the literary references and satire pieces were completely lost on me, but the remaining parts of the book were quite good, particularly the Jacob/Israel metaphor about getting loved ones to call him by his correct name.
Knowing what we know about Lavery's family of origin now, it seems like this book was written during a particularly painful time and that pain is evident in more than one essay in the collection. I hope that writing it was a source of catharsis for him.
Knowing what we know about Lavery's family of origin now, it seems like this book was written during a particularly painful time and that pain is evident in more than one essay in the collection. I hope that writing it was a source of catharsis for him.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
the way this book looks at christianity through a queer lens is delicious and painful and funny and relatable and i love it
Daniel Lavery writes my favorite sentences. He could write about literally any topic and it would delight me. His discourses on self-denial and identity are extremely moving and his comically deployed Bible references make it feel like he's writing for me specifically.
3.5/5
Daniel Lavery is such a brilliant writer, but unfortunately, I'm not sure I 100% "got" this book as intended. I really enjoyed how he placed his transition in the context of literature, and so many parts were genuinely moving and hilarious, but I think I felt too out of step with a lot of the references to really take them in as they were meant to be appreciated. I think I should have known what to expect going in based on Lavery's existing work and my knowledge of their style, and that this wouldn't just be straightforward memoir or narrative essays, so this is more about me as a reader than a slight to the book itself. I am sure this will hit the mark for many, many readers! (And may be a good excuse for me to brush up on some of the canon of literature ;)
Daniel Lavery is such a brilliant writer, but unfortunately, I'm not sure I 100% "got" this book as intended. I really enjoyed how he placed his transition in the context of literature, and so many parts were genuinely moving and hilarious, but I think I felt too out of step with a lot of the references to really take them in as they were meant to be appreciated. I think I should have known what to expect going in based on Lavery's existing work and my knowledge of their style, and that this wouldn't just be straightforward memoir or narrative essays, so this is more about me as a reader than a slight to the book itself. I am sure this will hit the mark for many, many readers! (And may be a good excuse for me to brush up on some of the canon of literature ;)
This is exactly the kind of nerdery I want to see more of in the world. It meanders, jabs, laughs and cries, makes tangents of tangents the heart of it -- kind of like transition. I'll be re-reading for sure.
fast-paced
Delightful, funny, informative, and thought-provoking. Sometimes too high-brow for me (or I just didn't get all the references?). Christian in a way I deeply understand and appreciate.
• • •
"Riddle-posing night demons, the happy days of Noah, the hour of the Son of Man—one of the many advantages of a religious childhood is the variety of metaphors made available to describe untranslatable inner experiences."
"This part of Jacob's story begins abruptly. The angel does not appear or announce himself—in one moment he is not there, and in the next moment he is there and wrestling with Jacob. He refuses to name or explain himself, the two are alone as they struggle, on the far side of the river from the rest of Jacob's family. Jacob is not overcome, but his body is marked by the encounter, and he moves differently throughout the world forever after. Jacob is given a blessing and a new name but never an explanation; the angel is gone as abruptly as it came; Jacob never walks the same. Trying not to transition was the hardest work in the world. The nicest thing about transition was letting go."
"'Something irreversible' it to polite people what 'self-mutilation' is to impolite people: a quick way to reorient the conversation around their own discomfort with bodies. In both cases it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to have a productive discussion with someone struggling with a reflexive, implicit horror of flesh. Any mention of someone else's transitioning body sends them into direct and panicked conflict with the prospect of their own transitioning body; since this is a prospect they find unbearable, it becomes immediately necessary for them to unload their own desire and disgust onto the nearest suitable target."
"The answer, then, for Paul, is the body-that-is exists always in anticipation of and conversation with the body-that-will-be, that all flesh is not the same flesh but that bodies please God, that death is always followed by growth, that there are many different types of glory, that dishonor may be followed by redemption, that all things spiritual originate in the goodness of the flesh, that our bodies might came to reflect both where we have been and where we are going. As my friend Julian put it, only half winkingly: 'God blessed me by making me transsexual for the same reason God made wheat but not bread and fruit but not wine, so that humanity might share in the act of creation.'"
"Jesus in the Gospels tells a number of stories about the kingdom of heaven, sometimes also the kingdom of God; whether the two are interchangeable or merely closely linked is a matter of some debate. He does not spend a great deal of time explaining what the kingdom of heaven is, but in alerting others to its presence. It is like a seed, it is like a net, it is like a pearl of great price hidden in a field, it is like yeast, it is like a merchant who comes across a pearl of great price hidden in a field, it is like a king preparing a wedding-banquet and his uncooperative guests; it is near at hand, it is more than just near at hand but currently present, it is an internal condition, it is an external system of justice, it is expansive, it is restrictive, it is the enemy of wealth and tightfistedness, it is a gift that God takes great pleasure in giving, it is the engine that metes out not just justice but retribution and more than retribution, terror, it is mysterious and far-off, it is like children and for children, it is for the childlike, it is seen and unseen, capable of sudden and rapid growth, bursting through and out and up, continually emerging and becoming more of itself, more real by the second and already real, all-welcoming and difficult to enter."
"There are exactly two Modes of Gay Feeling, no more and no less. Mode of Gay Feeling the first is Total Domination, How Dare You, I Will Never Die, It Is Impossible for Me to Die, I Thrive On Being Misunderstood. It's all carefully balanced hats and perfectly styled teddy boy hair and pastel lapels and either having no sex at all or the kind of sex you can't tell your friends about because they're going to get worried for you, and it's wonderful and it's exhausting, and you're funnier than anybody else both because you have to be and because it makes sense and more than a little because you are firmly convinced that a movie crew is always just out of sight recording your entire life and you are playing to the cheap seats, every minute."
"She said: 'An umbrella keeps you dry by diverting all the water to roll away from you and onto other people. It's an enemy of the collective good and I'd rather just wear a raincoat.'"
• • •
"Riddle-posing night demons, the happy days of Noah, the hour of the Son of Man—one of the many advantages of a religious childhood is the variety of metaphors made available to describe untranslatable inner experiences."
"This part of Jacob's story begins abruptly. The angel does not appear or announce himself—in one moment he is not there, and in the next moment he is there and wrestling with Jacob. He refuses to name or explain himself, the two are alone as they struggle, on the far side of the river from the rest of Jacob's family. Jacob is not overcome, but his body is marked by the encounter, and he moves differently throughout the world forever after. Jacob is given a blessing and a new name but never an explanation; the angel is gone as abruptly as it came; Jacob never walks the same. Trying not to transition was the hardest work in the world. The nicest thing about transition was letting go."
"'Something irreversible' it to polite people what 'self-mutilation' is to impolite people: a quick way to reorient the conversation around their own discomfort with bodies. In both cases it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to have a productive discussion with someone struggling with a reflexive, implicit horror of flesh. Any mention of someone else's transitioning body sends them into direct and panicked conflict with the prospect of their own transitioning body; since this is a prospect they find unbearable, it becomes immediately necessary for them to unload their own desire and disgust onto the nearest suitable target."
"The answer, then, for Paul, is the body-that-is exists always in anticipation of and conversation with the body-that-will-be, that all flesh is not the same flesh but that bodies please God, that death is always followed by growth, that there are many different types of glory, that dishonor may be followed by redemption, that all things spiritual originate in the goodness of the flesh, that our bodies might came to reflect both where we have been and where we are going. As my friend Julian put it, only half winkingly: 'God blessed me by making me transsexual for the same reason God made wheat but not bread and fruit but not wine, so that humanity might share in the act of creation.'"
"Jesus in the Gospels tells a number of stories about the kingdom of heaven, sometimes also the kingdom of God; whether the two are interchangeable or merely closely linked is a matter of some debate. He does not spend a great deal of time explaining what the kingdom of heaven is, but in alerting others to its presence. It is like a seed, it is like a net, it is like a pearl of great price hidden in a field, it is like yeast, it is like a merchant who comes across a pearl of great price hidden in a field, it is like a king preparing a wedding-banquet and his uncooperative guests; it is near at hand, it is more than just near at hand but currently present, it is an internal condition, it is an external system of justice, it is expansive, it is restrictive, it is the enemy of wealth and tightfistedness, it is a gift that God takes great pleasure in giving, it is the engine that metes out not just justice but retribution and more than retribution, terror, it is mysterious and far-off, it is like children and for children, it is for the childlike, it is seen and unseen, capable of sudden and rapid growth, bursting through and out and up, continually emerging and becoming more of itself, more real by the second and already real, all-welcoming and difficult to enter."
"There are exactly two Modes of Gay Feeling, no more and no less. Mode of Gay Feeling the first is Total Domination, How Dare You, I Will Never Die, It Is Impossible for Me to Die, I Thrive On Being Misunderstood. It's all carefully balanced hats and perfectly styled teddy boy hair and pastel lapels and either having no sex at all or the kind of sex you can't tell your friends about because they're going to get worried for you, and it's wonderful and it's exhausting, and you're funnier than anybody else both because you have to be and because it makes sense and more than a little because you are firmly convinced that a movie crew is always just out of sight recording your entire life and you are playing to the cheap seats, every minute."
"She said: 'An umbrella keeps you dry by diverting all the water to roll away from you and onto other people. It's an enemy of the collective good and I'd rather just wear a raincoat.'"