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hiiamkye's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Yet another graphic novel banger.
I absolutely inhaled this in one sitting. I want the next chapter. The next part. The next decade.
I hope that Maia has found even more gender euphoria, e deserves it.
I absolutely inhaled this in one sitting. I want the next chapter. The next part. The next decade.
I hope that Maia has found even more gender euphoria, e deserves it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Outing, and Toxic friendship
maxandrambo's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Dysphoria
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Cancer
hawksrye's review
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Alcohol
amylangdown_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel/comic all about Maia’s experience of being nonbinary and asexual. So many things mentioned in this really struck a chord with me. Would really recommend (I read it in 2 hours!!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria
saskia_ej's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria
Minor: Excrement
jay_fl0ws's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I saw myself in Maia’s story and that’s rare for me. I appreciated the vulnerability and vivid depictions of everyday experiences that are actually painful and distressing - like misgendering, medical appointments, shopping and conversations with allosexual and/or cisgender people — moments that people who are not trans or GNC or asexual don’t tend to grasp. This is a short but useful read that can be cathartic and comforting for those who relate or educational and eye opening for those who don’t. the ending felt cut short, but maybe that’s a good sign that I wanted more from em!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria
dblue236's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
The current state of the country I live in has recently prompted me to start intentionally stocking challenged or banned books in my Little Free Library, so I purchased a copy of this one for that purpose and finally sat down to read it for myself to see what all the outrage was about.
Spoiler alert: It's much less about the book itself than it's about the fact that the people screaming loudest about it have never read a single page of it.
Folks, a book being a graphic novel does not automatically mean it was written for children, or is geared toward children, or is in any way a "children's book." You're looking to ban a book from public schools when it's intended for, really, people in their 20s and 30s. There are no depictions of "children having sex" or "child nudity" in this book since the only time there is any sex or nudity included, the characters are adults in grad school. There is mention of things regarding gender identity and sexuality that the author experienced as a child, and that is where anything relating to children stops.
In the future, please educate yourselves BEFORE you start blindly trying to ban books. This one is nothing other than the author's very personal, very painful experience presented in a format that makes it more relatable and straightforward. There is as much explicit content in some of the "classic literature" that you insist children read in school as there is in this book, and I applaud the author for having the tenacity to share a story as personal as this one- even though I can't necessarily understand or relate to it myself. Ya know. Like decent people do.
Spoiler alert: It's much less about the book itself than it's about the fact that the people screaming loudest about it have never read a single page of it.
Folks, a book being a graphic novel does not automatically mean it was written for children, or is geared toward children, or is in any way a "children's book." You're looking to ban a book from public schools when it's intended for, really, people in their 20s and 30s. There are no depictions of "children having sex" or "child nudity" in this book since the only time there is any sex or nudity included, the characters are adults in grad school. There is mention of things regarding gender identity and sexuality that the author experienced as a child, and that is where anything relating to children stops.
In the future, please educate yourselves BEFORE you start blindly trying to ban books. This one is nothing other than the author's very personal, very painful experience presented in a format that makes it more relatable and straightforward. There is as much explicit content in some of the "classic literature" that you insist children read in school as there is in this book, and I applaud the author for having the tenacity to share a story as personal as this one- even though I can't necessarily understand or relate to it myself. Ya know. Like decent people do.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria
Minor: Incest
whitneymouse's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
25 reread: read again for a work book club. Did not like it more a second time. I stand by the one chapter about the brain research and the analogy about gender with the beach and mountains being the part I got the most out of but a lot of the stuff I mentioned before still makes me uncomfortable. Also, still doesn’t read like a coherent memoir. I feel bad but I think there has to be better books on this topic.
22 original: I read this for work. I knew that, since it's been banned a lot of places and because I work with students and in a library, eventually this topic would be brought up and so I wanted to be informed.
I've come to the conclusion that the reasons people are upset about this book on a large scale are the wrong reasons to not like this book. The author identifies as nonbinary and this is an adult memoir about that experience. That isn't a reason for the book to be vilified and people who are pretending it is are overreacting. Also want to note that this review will contain spoilers and also the author uses Spivak pronouns (e/em/eir), so I will use those when referring to em.
My reasons for disliking this book is that, to start, there wasn't really a "plot." Memoirs usually follow even a loose timeline and this one felt like it jumped around a lot and like there wasn't a greater point to them. It felt kind of like a collection of short stories made into a graphic novel. So I wasn't a super big fan of that.
Additionally, the author admitted to many strange behaviors for an adult in this book, which made me uncomfortable. These include:
-writing sexual fanfiction about One Direction while they were still teenagers and e was in grad school
-buying a sex toy, deciding e didn't like it, washing it and then regifting it to a sibling 😐 That story gave me the "Lena Dunham's rock story" vibes and made me so uncomfortable. That's too close for family.
-mentioning Plato's Symposium in a sexual fashion and then drawing a picture of it on a vase, which depicts an adult man and a much younger (read: probably teenage and therefore a minor) male engaging in sex. There are books about this situation where the point is to condemn the behavior. I felt very weirded out by that panel, especially because the point was for it to be sexual.
-The repeated refrain of "wanting to cut off my boobs". I have no issue with top surgery. If that's what's needed for a person to feel most comfortable in their body or in life, you do you. But I feel like the wording for this could have been worded so as not to give an example for TERFs and right-wing extremists to point at and claim that people are "indoctrinating" their kids to "mutilate" themselves.
-portraying a medical treatment in a graphically traumatic way. I understand this book has won an Alex award and has crossover appeal for teens. Due to that, many teens with a uterus may read this before they go see an OBGYN and that could make what is a relatively routine procedure traumatic or cause anxiety. I understand the need to explain how it made em feel and that e had such bad anxiety that e needed anxiety meds for the appointment, but cervical cancer screenings aren't something to play around with. It's necessary, even if you don't like it, for health reasons.
Honestly, I am of the opinion that this book was kind of middle of the road and that it probably wouldn't have been as hyped if it weren't for TERFs overreacting 🤷🏽♀️ I'm happy for people who feel seen in this book. I'm glad you're getting representation because that's important. I also want to note that there was a really good illustration used to explain what being nonbinary or trans felt like that I think would make it easier for cis people to understand. But I don't think that outweighs the lack of plot and other questionable moments in this book. I'm not the target audience, so I just want to be clear that I know it wasn't written with me in mind, but I read and love a lot of books that aren't "for" me. I think there are other books about the trans or nonbinary experience I would recommend before this one.
22 original: I read this for work. I knew that, since it's been banned a lot of places and because I work with students and in a library, eventually this topic would be brought up and so I wanted to be informed.
I've come to the conclusion that the reasons people are upset about this book on a large scale are the wrong reasons to not like this book. The author identifies as nonbinary and this is an adult memoir about that experience. That isn't a reason for the book to be vilified and people who are pretending it is are overreacting. Also want to note that this review will contain spoilers and also the author uses Spivak pronouns (e/em/eir), so I will use those when referring to em.
My reasons for disliking this book is that, to start, there wasn't really a "plot." Memoirs usually follow even a loose timeline and this one felt like it jumped around a lot and like there wasn't a greater point to them. It felt kind of like a collection of short stories made into a graphic novel. So I wasn't a super big fan of that.
Additionally, the author admitted to many strange behaviors for an adult in this book, which made me uncomfortable. These include:
-writing sexual fanfiction about One Direction while they were still teenagers and e was in grad school
-buying a sex toy, deciding e didn't like it, washing it and then regifting it to a sibling 😐 That story gave me the "Lena Dunham's rock story" vibes and made me so uncomfortable. That's too close for family.
-mentioning Plato's Symposium in a sexual fashion and then drawing a picture of it on a vase, which depicts an adult man and a much younger (read: probably teenage and therefore a minor) male engaging in sex. There are books about this situation where the point is to condemn the behavior. I felt very weirded out by that panel, especially because the point was for it to be sexual.
-The repeated refrain of "wanting to cut off my boobs". I have no issue with top surgery. If that's what's needed for a person to feel most comfortable in their body or in life, you do you. But I feel like the wording for this could have been worded so as not to give an example for TERFs and right-wing extremists to point at and claim that people are "indoctrinating" their kids to "mutilate" themselves.
-portraying a medical treatment in a graphically traumatic way. I understand this book has won an Alex award and has crossover appeal for teens. Due to that, many teens with a uterus may read this before they go see an OBGYN and that could make what is a relatively routine procedure traumatic or cause anxiety. I understand the need to explain how it made em feel and that e had such bad anxiety that e needed anxiety meds for the appointment, but cervical cancer screenings aren't something to play around with. It's necessary, even if you don't like it, for health reasons.
Honestly, I am of the opinion that this book was kind of middle of the road and that it probably wouldn't have been as hyped if it weren't for TERFs overreacting 🤷🏽♀️ I'm happy for people who feel seen in this book. I'm glad you're getting representation because that's important. I also want to note that there was a really good illustration used to explain what being nonbinary or trans felt like that I think would make it easier for cis people to understand. But I don't think that outweighs the lack of plot and other questionable moments in this book. I'm not the target audience, so I just want to be clear that I know it wasn't written with me in mind, but I read and love a lot of books that aren't "for" me. I think there are other books about the trans or nonbinary experience I would recommend before this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Body horror and Blood
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content
advokate's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Medical trauma
georeadss's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
A wonderful and honest book about the hardships and joys surrounding gender and sexuality. I enjoyed this book, and devoured it in one sitting. I connected and resonated with the story, even though I am cis myself, I have been on my own sexuality and gender journey, and I am grateful that Kobabe was able to share eir story with us.
This is the first time I’ve read a graphic novel, and it has opened up a whole new genre for me. I adored the illustrations, particularly on pages 67 and 128. You could tell that all the illustrations and text were conscious decisions, enabling the reader to truly feel the emotions during each scene.
Although not banned in Australia, this book has been challenged in the courts, which is such a disservice to our LGBTIQ+ people. I encourage anyone and everyone to read this book, even if you’re not apart of the community. This is an important story that deserves to be told. I borrowed this book but will be purchasing my own copy when I can.
I would love to know more about Kobabe’s story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Dysphoria
Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Transphobia