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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
A journey of Trans represention through art and in the media alongside an open personal Memoire.
I loved Juliet's writing style and authorial voice as she shares her feelings at different points in her life, her journey to be her true self as fully as she feels is right for her alongside showing how mainstream society has little to no true trans represention in media (through 90's and 00's) and how exhausting and damaging that is to the trans community. But despite this we see glimmers of truth and hope through Music, film and surprisingly football. We follow Juliets interests, inspiration, days of struggle and joy from Horley, to Manchester, to Brighton and London. We meet her friends, her cheerleaders, those who would drag her down, mental health hurdles, a sprinkled history of film woven througout and at the centre is a talented woman who is just trying to live her life.
I can't wait to read her other words where she telks the story she wants to not just the story she has to.
I loved Juliet's writing style and authorial voice as she shares her feelings at different points in her life, her journey to be her true self as fully as she feels is right for her alongside showing how mainstream society has little to no true trans represention in media (through 90's and 00's) and how exhausting and damaging that is to the trans community. But despite this we see glimmers of truth and hope through Music, film and surprisingly football. We follow Juliets interests, inspiration, days of struggle and joy from Horley, to Manchester, to Brighton and London. We meet her friends, her cheerleaders, those who would drag her down, mental health hurdles, a sprinkled history of film woven througout and at the centre is a talented woman who is just trying to live her life.
I can't wait to read her other words where she telks the story she wants to not just the story she has to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I really appreciated Jacques push back on the ‘born in the wrong body’ narrative and her push towards being ‘born in the wrong society’. She mentions in the epilogue how writing this gave her some nostalgia specifically around her pre-transitional exploration, those were easily my favourite aspects of the book as they felt incredibly relatable and informative as a 20-something nonbinary person myself. Jacques's forthcoming and blunt style of writing made this an easy read and I enjoyed the reflections on confessional journalism, the politics of being transgender in the media, and her relentless honesty. This was really insightful.
TW: mentions of; transphobia, sexual assault, suicide, suicide ideation, misgendering, misogyny, terfs, depression, anxiety, surgery
A great commentary on trans memoirs, as well as recording Juliet's life journey, not just her trans path, but her many intercrossing traits and experiences.
A great commentary on trans memoirs, as well as recording Juliet's life journey, not just her trans path, but her many intercrossing traits and experiences.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
An eye opening memoir on the social and physical aspects of transition, Janet writes about the realities of living through a transition while trying to navigate the everyday struggles re: jobs, money, making ends meet, homophobes, existential crises etc. She writes about her experience writing for a mainstream media that was often transphobic, and I really enjoyed her insights into the alarming influence of media, influential TERFs (and conservatives) in shaping the dangerous anti trans world we now live in. I especially enjoyed the time capsule of British life and culture she creates while talking about her social life, her musical tastes/loves, and movie influences.
I enjoyed this a lot.
I'm conditioned by the contemporary moment to expect virulent transphobia at every turn whenever I read trans narratives — both within the text and externally in coverage of it. And while there is, naturally, moments of transphobic violence in this book (and thus in Jacques' life), I find there are many more moments in which it is demonstrated that acceptance and support do exist and can exist.
Her relationship with her parents is extremely moving, and I found her journey with them in particular to be very poignant.
I'm conditioned by the contemporary moment to expect virulent transphobia at every turn whenever I read trans narratives — both within the text and externally in coverage of it. And while there is, naturally, moments of transphobic violence in this book (and thus in Jacques' life), I find there are many more moments in which it is demonstrated that acceptance and support do exist and can exist.
Her relationship with her parents is extremely moving, and I found her journey with them in particular to be very poignant.
Trans: A Memoir jumped out at me when I saw it on the shelves. It wasn't mystically titled, trying to apply a soft focus to what the book was really about so that people would pick it up. A blunt title that told you everything you needed to know and I wanted to read it. Jacques' articles were vaguely familiar to me although I've heard from numerous people that she was someone to look into (note, I intend to read more of her work after reading this book). Jacques doesn't just discuss her transition process, she discusses films, music, literature and football, and it was nice to see a collage of her interests around her story. There were moments where I found reading this book difficult due to my own experiences; maybe some people could find this book purely helpful whereas I found it, in some segments, triggering. However, this is a really strong memoir about an even stronger woman, and I'm sure anyone who is going through the same things, knows someone who is, or merely has an interest in gender itself, will thoroughly enjoy as well as appreciate this book.