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tellingetienne's review
3.0
This sure was a book. I wanted SO SO much more from it as a Stonewall Award winner, but at the end of the day I was left wanting. It's very much a cis woman writing about trans people, and that can be frustrating. That said, it seemed to be fairly standard issue YA (with a dose of transphobia and violence over it, which honestly I just want to do with out). When will we have trans YA that doesn't have violence in it?
I did like Gabe, so there was that?
I did like Gabe, so there was that?
greatolcatsby's review
1.0
When I got to this book in my library book stack, I struggled to get through it at times due to the mediocre writing. It simply wasn’t holding my attention very long. The characters weren’t much better. They weren’t all that enjoyable. They were pretty two-dimensional and you don’t really get to know them.
I appreciate the author's intentions to write a book with this kind of topic and not shy away the struggles and issues. I know there are people out there who can be able to connect with Gabe, but the story just fell flat for me.
I appreciate the author's intentions to write a book with this kind of topic and not shy away the struggles and issues. I know there are people out there who can be able to connect with Gabe, but the story just fell flat for me.
weweresotired's review
4.0
See the full review at Short & Sweet Reviews.
I am always anxious when reading "issues" books that have anything to do with gender, sexuality, or mental illness. They're issues which are close to me personally and which I feel are really important to get right. Getting them wrong is a disservice to readers in general, and to people who may identify with those characters in specific. So I was understandably a bit nervous when beginning Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. YA books featuring transgender narrators (or trans characters in general) are few and far between, and the story was handled well, it could be beautiful, but if it was handled poorly, I would have had to drag out the soapbox for a lot of complaining.
Fortunately, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children handles Gabe's story quite well. It's not a perfect story, but it is told in a sensitive, realistic manner. The book is written as if Gabe is partly speaking to the reader, and his story is told in a no-nonsense, no-fuss sort of way. Gabe's feelings about being trans, about having been born into the wrong body, are presented in an easy to understand manner, even for readers who may not have any exposure to the subject matter before.
I enjoyed reading about Gabe's journey -- well, enjoyed is a strong word, whenever so much of his life goes awry because people don't understand him, but you know what I mean. He is a cool guy who just needs people to accept him as he is. As a radio DJ myself, I really loved the bits where Gabe is learning to do his show. Gabe has a couple of "oh crap!!" moments that every new DJ has which I could really identify with. Music was a really important part of the story, and Gabe's eclectic music tastes really made me happy.
Like most contemporary issues books, I found the ending to be a bit too easy -- things wrapped up very neatly, bad people are punished, good people are celebrated, etc. That's now how life usually is, however, especially for a transperson, who is statistically more likely to experience bullying, harassment, and assault and is more likely to have attempted suicide. So the fact that things just all end on a relatively positive note is great for providing hope to readers, but is not particularly realistic in light of the situation.
I am always anxious when reading "issues" books that have anything to do with gender, sexuality, or mental illness. They're issues which are close to me personally and which I feel are really important to get right. Getting them wrong is a disservice to readers in general, and to people who may identify with those characters in specific. So I was understandably a bit nervous when beginning Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. YA books featuring transgender narrators (or trans characters in general) are few and far between, and the story was handled well, it could be beautiful, but if it was handled poorly, I would have had to drag out the soapbox for a lot of complaining.
Fortunately, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children handles Gabe's story quite well. It's not a perfect story, but it is told in a sensitive, realistic manner. The book is written as if Gabe is partly speaking to the reader, and his story is told in a no-nonsense, no-fuss sort of way. Gabe's feelings about being trans, about having been born into the wrong body, are presented in an easy to understand manner, even for readers who may not have any exposure to the subject matter before.
I enjoyed reading about Gabe's journey -- well, enjoyed is a strong word, whenever so much of his life goes awry because people don't understand him, but you know what I mean. He is a cool guy who just needs people to accept him as he is. As a radio DJ myself, I really loved the bits where Gabe is learning to do his show. Gabe has a couple of "oh crap!!" moments that every new DJ has which I could really identify with. Music was a really important part of the story, and Gabe's eclectic music tastes really made me happy.
Like most contemporary issues books, I found the ending to be a bit too easy -- things wrapped up very neatly, bad people are punished, good people are celebrated, etc. That's now how life usually is, however, especially for a transperson, who is statistically more likely to experience bullying, harassment, and assault and is more likely to have attempted suicide. So the fact that things just all end on a relatively positive note is great for providing hope to readers, but is not particularly realistic in light of the situation.
gdonahue's review
4.0
This is my first experience reading a book with a transgender main character, and I found the experience so enlightening and important. I particularly appreciate that this book is YA (e.g. accessible to young people and those who may be struggling with expressing their own identities) and I love that the characters are well-written, and don't necessarily have neatly tied up endings. I would highly recommend this book to others, and I am so glad that we have it in my local library. If others have more recommendations for books with LGBTQIA+ characters, and those written by LGBTQIA+ authors, I would greatly appreciate them.
barbarianlibarian's review
2.0
did not like. deals with real issues, but didn't seem believable to me at all and i also felt like it barely went into Gabe's (the main character's) thoughts and feelings, something that would have been key for a book like this.
emtyra's review
3.5
Let's start off by saying that I'm not even sure about my rating, as always. I kind of need to figure a way out to rate books that feels good to me, so this could definitely be changed in the future (for the better or for the worse). The thing is though, that giving three stars always sounds so bad for books that don't actually have much fault in them, like this one. The main reason I'm "only" giving this 3.5 stars is because I didn't really feel the story as much as I wanted to, which could be my own fault interely because I haven't read a book that I connect with for a while now. Though it is actually a pretty good book. But I'm stopping now before I make even less sense than I already do.
Okay so; first things first. This book has been on my wishlist for a while now. I'm one of those people that actively try to read as much lgbt books as I can since the actual representation in media is laughable. It's getting better; but it still sucks ass. Even more so when it comes to trans representation. And since I've read good things about this book I got all excited about it when I first put it on my wishlist; and just as much when I finally bought it after a few months. And it didn't disappoint me, but it also didn't made me binge it within one sitting like I thought it might.
One thing I should probably mention before I say anything else about the plot: I'm a cis woman, and this book was written by one as well. So I can't tell you if the things that happen in this novel are 100% realistic. However, I don't think it's heavily unrealistic either. From the things I heard I can definitely see these things happen to someone in real life, especially since it isn't all lovey dovey or semi-sad like I thought it would be in the beginning. There is some heavy stuff in it. Nothing too graphic, but definitely more than I expected. If anything I thought that the fact that someone could actually gain a fanbase that dedicated in such a short time with a radio show was the most unrealistic part of the whole thing.
Since I got that out of the way I gotta say that I, looking back at it, I did really enjoy it. Despite the fact that I imagined her having black hair for half of the book until it was revealed that she's blonde and the few times she was acting kind of meh I also really liked Paige. She seemed like a good friend for the most part. And so did John. I actually had to laugh a lot about some things those two said; especially the triangle part. Not sure if anyone would actually say that in real life, but it was certainly funny. Could kind of be the trans version of our beloved "home of sexuals".
One the other hand, the book also made one or two tears roll down my face on some parts. The important parts. And a book that can make you laugh just as much as it can make you cry is definitely not a bad pick; at least in my opinion.
The only times I was actually kind of truly iffy about it was when I read what kind of language was used, especially in the end in the Author's Note. Namely the usage of "transsexual/s" and "a transsexual" because I know a lot of people use transgender instead of transsexual now since the sexual part is misleading and "a transsexual" sounds kind of like an insult to me. Though the author also wrote that language and the knowledge is always evolving and that in a few years some of the things she wrote could be outdated; and acknowleding the fact that the book was written four years ago I gotta let it pass. I even kind of want to give plus points for the note, because there she also talked about nonbinary individuals and about other things that fall into the trans umbrella which I think is completely awesome since there are still so many people out there who try to ignore the fact that gender isn't as simple and "binary" as we thought it is and she tries to kind of break that.
Okay so; first things first. This book has been on my wishlist for a while now. I'm one of those people that actively try to read as much lgbt books as I can since the actual representation in media is laughable. It's getting better; but it still sucks ass. Even more so when it comes to trans representation. And since I've read good things about this book I got all excited about it when I first put it on my wishlist; and just as much when I finally bought it after a few months. And it didn't disappoint me, but it also didn't made me binge it within one sitting like I thought it might.
One thing I should probably mention before I say anything else about the plot: I'm a cis woman, and this book was written by one as well. So I can't tell you if the things that happen in this novel are 100% realistic. However, I don't think it's heavily unrealistic either. From the things I heard I can definitely see these things happen to someone in real life, especially since it isn't all lovey dovey or semi-sad like I thought it would be in the beginning. There is some heavy stuff in it. Nothing too graphic, but definitely more than I expected. If anything I thought that the fact that someone could actually gain a fanbase that dedicated in such a short time with a radio show was the most unrealistic part of the whole thing.
Since I got that out of the way I gotta say that I, looking back at it, I did really enjoy it. Despite the fact that I imagined her having black hair for half of the book until it was revealed that she's blonde and the few times she was acting kind of meh I also really liked Paige. She seemed like a good friend for the most part. And so did John. I actually had to laugh a lot about some things those two said; especially the triangle part. Not sure if anyone would actually say that in real life, but it was certainly funny. Could kind of be the trans version of our beloved "home of sexuals".
One the other hand, the book also made one or two tears roll down my face on some parts. The important parts. And a book that can make you laugh just as much as it can make you cry is definitely not a bad pick; at least in my opinion.
The only times I was actually kind of truly iffy about it was when I read what kind of language was used, especially in the end in the Author's Note. Namely the usage of "transsexual/s" and "a transsexual" because I know a lot of people use transgender instead of transsexual now since the sexual part is misleading and "a transsexual" sounds kind of like an insult to me. Though the author also wrote that language and the knowledge is always evolving and that in a few years some of the things she wrote could be outdated; and acknowleding the fact that the book was written four years ago I gotta let it pass. I even kind of want to give plus points for the note, because there she also talked about nonbinary individuals and about other things that fall into the trans umbrella which I think is completely awesome since there are still so many people out there who try to ignore the fact that gender isn't as simple and "binary" as we thought it is and she tries to kind of break that.
dinonino's review
4.0
I only started reading it for the beautiful title but I really really liked this book.
The topic of transgender is a difficult one but she managed to show that it's a normal coming of age story.
The topic of transgender is a difficult one but she managed to show that it's a normal coming of age story.
manaledi's review
4.0
I thought this book did a good job of being about Trans issues without the Trans aspect being the only thing in the story. It was quick and engaging.
halaagmod's review
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Admittedly, I don't read very many stories that have transgender characters. Not for lack of wanting to, mind you, but because even though more stories than every are being written with us in them, the number of quality trans books—the kind that don't stereotype our existence or water down our identities just to our transness—is unfortunately still very, very low, even for own-voices fiction.
Surprisingly enough, despite being written by a cis author a little over a decade ago (usually a sign of caution), Beautiful Music for Ugly Children is a complete breath of fresh air. No matter what was being thrown at him, Gabe stayed as Gabe, and he's presented to the reader with his own person with unique dreams, interests, goals, and emotions. You don't forget that he's trans, but his transness is not the only thing that matters or drives the plot—his friends, his family, his show and connection with music are all just as important, just as fleshed out and dynamic despite the fragility and heartache that comes as an ingrained part of transition. It's absolutely brilliant and it's shocking how well that Mills is able to capture the trans experience and get into the mind of a teenage boy struggling with his identity and self-worth. I needed that as a young trans kid.
Of course, it's far from a perfect book, and I definitely understand the criticisms coming from other trans readers—much of the information over a decade after publication is very much outdated, it does feature many of the tropes I do tend to loathe from trans-centered books, and some of the language used in the book might offend some (though, to be honest, it's very accurate for a small, Midwestern town like Gabe's). But in my opinion, it doesn't exactly need to be perfect to tell this kind of story. I wish there were more books like this one.
Surprisingly enough, despite being written by a cis author a little over a decade ago (usually a sign of caution), Beautiful Music for Ugly Children is a complete breath of fresh air. No matter what was being thrown at him, Gabe stayed as Gabe, and he's presented to the reader with his own person with unique dreams, interests, goals, and emotions. You don't forget that he's trans, but his transness is not the only thing that matters or drives the plot—his friends, his family, his show and connection with music are all just as important, just as fleshed out and dynamic despite the fragility and heartache that comes as an ingrained part of transition. It's absolutely brilliant and it's shocking how well that Mills is able to capture the trans experience and get into the mind of a teenage boy struggling with his identity and self-worth. I needed that as a young trans kid.
Of course, it's far from a perfect book, and I definitely understand the criticisms coming from other trans readers—much of the information over a decade after publication is very much outdated, it does feature many of the tropes I do tend to loathe from trans-centered books, and some of the language used in the book might offend some (though, to be honest, it's very accurate for a small, Midwestern town like Gabe's). But in my opinion, it doesn't exactly need to be perfect to tell this kind of story. I wish there were more books like this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Hate crime
Moderate: Bullying and Cursing
Minor: Vomit
mmk5110's review
5.0
This is one of those books that makes you wish you could read it for the first time again. I loved it. Maybe it was the music element, maybe it was the self acceptance. I couldn't tell you but this is amazing.