Reviews

My Brother's Name is Jessica by John Boyne

Only show reviews with written explanations

towanda000's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've seen a lot of reviews saying 'this is transphobic! we don't want to hear about cis people struggling to accept their trans relatives! a cis person shouldn't be writing about this!' And I disagree. I'm not saying those opinions are wrong. I'm just sharing mine, too. (And for the record, I am trans lol).

I think it's good that cis people want to write about trans people. Everyone wants more representation, until they're given it. 'Include diverse characters!', everyone says to cis people, until they are included and they don't like certain things about how it was done. What does that do? Discourage authors from writing about them. Make trans people seem 'other', and like we're different and cis people cannot possibly comprehend us.

I've seen reviews saying the title is transphobic. It's a book trying to catch people's attention. 'My Brother's Name is Jessica' was what caught my attention, and I probably wouldn't have even looked into the book if it was called 'My Sister's Name is Jessica'. It's a way of saying, 'hey, look, this is a book with trans representation'.

As someone with cis relatives, I want them to have books with representation for them as well. I want them to be able to read a book where someone has to come to terms with their relative being trans. What I saw from this was Sam struggling to accept his sister, who he'd known all his life as his brother, is his sister (which happens). I saw Sam dealing with being bullied over it, making it harder to accept her (which happens). I saw Sam coming to terms with his sister being his sister, and coming to see that she is happier living her truth - happier when she's transitioning (which happens).

It didn't strike me as transphobic. Just because characters deal with transphobia, it doesn't mean the author is transphobic. Trans people have to deal with transphobia when they come out, even from (and especially from, in some cases) their families. That is a reality. It's good that that reality is being written about. Hopefully a few people reading this will be more accepting of trans people going forward.

I saw this book as more of a book for cis people to come to understand and support trans people better, which is good in my book.

Also, sidenote: I listened to this on Audible and it is the first Audiobook I have ever successfully listened to.

adelle_bookworm's review against another edition

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5.0

Já si to chtěla šetřit, fakt. Nešlo to.
Všichni si to přečtěte, víc nemám co říct.

ksm's review against another edition

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challenging reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

katykelly's review against another edition

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4.0

Gender identity tale from the sibling's viewpoint.

Boyne has created some unforgettable characters and stories, for both adults and younger readers, some modern classics. He has never shied away from some very heart-rending themes.

This latest didn't quite hit the spot for me. In many ways, Sam's viewpoint is authentic - his confusion, anger and inability to comprehend his brother's metamorphosis. In others, the almost stereotypical way that their parents, school-friends and the media/society at large seem to view their matter is out-of-date, overblown and unrealistic.

Sam is 13, the second child of a Cabinet Minister and her assistant, brother to a popular football star. When 17-year-old Jason reveals to the family that he is in fact now identifying as a girl, Sam and his parents alike are bewildered, indignant.

With their parents trying to force normality back on the family and Jason resisting, Sam struggles with his agitation and ignorance (seriously - would this generation have learnt nothing of transgender issues in the 21st century classroom?), whilst undergoing some rather shocking clichéd bullying at school.

I really felt for Jason/Jessica, contending with the rampant intolerance and misinformation displayed here, most of which seemed incredibly old-fashioned. I actually wanted to hear from from her. Sam veered between naivety and just plain selfish/unenlightened. At thirteen, I felt he should have been more worldly, their parents definitely so, in the world of government and political posturing.

The parents are both grating and unsympathetic - focused on their careers over family most of the time, wanting to cover over problems to maintain appearances, but that storyline does yield some reward.

Sam himself has room for character growth. Jason/Jessica disappears for a large section of the book, leaving Sam to work through things without the influence of the person who has started his path towards maturity.

The audiobook gives Sam as narrator a young-sounding voice, more the child than the future man, which fits. As a reader/listener, I found his point of view more gullible than I would have expected from a modern-day teenager, but the format did suit the story and its telling. The voices of Sam's family come across as individuals that you can picture and it's a straightforward book to follow aurally.

This may prove a positive source narrative for basing gender identity discussions on with teenagers, for parents and teachers. It raises points that can help dispel myths and misconceptions, though I would be interested to know how the attitudes in here measure up to those of real teenagers, and how transgender individuals see their own experiences of opening up and how it compares.

For ages 12/13 and older.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

cosmo_junk's review against another edition

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1.0

tw transphobia, homophobia, violence, cis ppl writing trans characters

i picked this up thinking it was going to be a cute read. ohhh no. let's get a few things straight. john boyne is a cis man, writing a book in the pov of a cis boy about a trans girl. and this book is infuriating in many ways:

- the misgendering and deadnaming in the title and blurb
- it concerns the CIS BOY's emotions over than the TRANS GIRL whom he traumatizes
- nobody accepts jessica until THE VERY LAST CHAPTER when she's at her absolute low point. is this the inspirational messaging you want your young trans girls to internalize?
- author seems to think saying slurs just because is the #1 Most Transphobic thing you can do
- sam calls jessica "my brother jason" every other sentence. like, EVERY other sentence.
- jessica is strangely passive when she faces transphobia. she kinda waits quietly until it stops. maybe she's just shy, except we don't know anything about her character bc this book was written in the perspective of an outsider and provides ZERO sympathy for her
- makes it look so easy for trans people to get hormones. jessica starts estrogen only a few months after the end of the book
- unnecessary romantic subplot bc filler i guess?
- sam is so mean abt her being trans, he frequently says/thinks things like "if they go to hogwarts, maybe he can magic [jessica] back to normal" and he said to their aunt "i bet you told him it was okay to be a girl." i know when you want young transphobic kids to relate to your character, it helps to meet them where they're at, but this is just horrendous. sam doesn't even (outright) feel a little shame at the gross things he's thought about jessica. so it's ok to hate your trans sister, as long as you don't cut her hair?
- jessica is pretty sure she is a girl early on, and is positive that she doesn't like boys (says she's "not gay"), so why was she confused when sam brought up that she might be "a gay girl"? maybe she was ashamed or unsure of her own identity as a girl, and therefore felt uncomfortable calling herself a lesbian, which would've been an amazing subplot! but no

TL;DR: i can't imagine any trans person reading this and feeling good, since sam is such an asshole until the very last chapter. it seems very pandering to cis ppl and fails to portray a trans experience. so maybe trans people were not the target audience after all.