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voilajean's review
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Death, and Death of parent
shelleyk's review
3.0
I like how this memoir read like a story, and I wanted to read more about the house that Jenny grew up in.
chelle934's review
3.0
This is one of very few books that I have been unable to finish. I thought this would be about someones experience in the past not a back and forth of past and present.
angiesbookmark's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
I usually really like memoirs, this book was maybe just not what I was looking for/thought it was going to be.
It was more about her life growing up with her family and internal struggle with being trans, with a little bit of the ghosts she encountered sprinkled in. I thought the book would be more like Paranormal Activity or Ghost Hunters with the main focus being around the things she experienced in the house.
After I understood that this was a story about personal hauntings and less about just the haunted house I really enjoyed this book.
pqlibrarian's review
4.0
Definitely not what I was expecting, but I'm glad I finished it. It was amusing and touching
jessferg's review
2.0
The author pretty much writes her own review by quoting a friend on page 241: "You know what they say. About how history repeats itself? First time as tragedy, second time as some big ol' pile of bullshit."
Part One of the book is the story, Part Two is remembering Part One - plus a little of Boylan's other book, 'She's Not Here.' To say it's somewhat repetitive is an understatement. And a rather dull childhood, honestly, without much actual haunting (mostly used as metaphor.) I realize the 'shocking' part is supposed to be this teen boy wanting to wear a bra and panties but is there a teen alive, of either gender, who wasn't afraid of getting caught at something?
Not very eye-opening, and really rather stilted emotionally despite constant reminders of how tough living with gender identity disorder was for Boylan.
Final answer: disappointing.
Part One of the book is the story, Part Two is remembering Part One - plus a little of Boylan's other book, 'She's Not Here.' To say it's somewhat repetitive is an understatement. And a rather dull childhood, honestly, without much actual haunting (mostly used as metaphor.) I realize the 'shocking' part is supposed to be this teen boy wanting to wear a bra and panties but is there a teen alive, of either gender, who wasn't afraid of getting caught at something?
Not very eye-opening, and really rather stilted emotionally despite constant reminders of how tough living with gender identity disorder was for Boylan.
Final answer: disappointing.
helenarmstrong's review
5.0
After what was beginning to seem like a clinical bout of no reading, I enrolled in an English class (required-ish) called Voices of America. I was simultaneously excited and concerned about how it would go, discussing various issues like class, race, sexuality, and gender with a mixed-bag group of my fellow students. I was even more excited - and more concerned - when I saw this book on the syllabus. I hadn't heard of Jennifer Finney Boylan, hadn't really delved into the world of "transgender" issues, despite being myself a member of the LGBTQ+ community who is now dating a woman.
I'm a cisgender female and I've always felt very comfortable in that fact. There was never a reason for me to question my gender, so I didn't. Nor have I had any close friends who were transgender, so while I have always been a sympathetic ally to the transgender community, I haven't spent much time reading up on transgender issues or, even, what it's like to be transgender.
I started reading I'm Looking Through You and found it extremely difficult to stop. I could barely put it down. As someone who has previously, on many occasions, said that I "hate memoirs" (honestly I haven't even read that many memoirs), I was surprised at myself.
I'm Looking Through You was a beautifully written memoir that read like a novel. Boylan painted an ethereal picture of her childhood in a haunted house that seemed, at times, unbelievable. The house took on its own character, formed by the ghosts that inhabited it, and this character was as mysterious and complex as any in the book. Except, of course, for Jenny herself. She was witty, funny, intelligent... I really cared what happened to her, and rooted for her through to the end. I cried when she cried. I laughed when she cracked a joke. She was such an empathetic character - such an empathetic person, because as an author, her voice shone through in the most remarkable and, at times, touching way.
At the end of the book, I found myself wanting to re-read it again and again, for the first time each time. The story was so enchanting and the mystical quality that surrounded Jenny herself and the story wrapped me up, too.
This book opened a door for me to learn more about what it's like to be transgender, as well as the extremely complex and amorphous concept of gender in and of itself. Before I had read the final chapter in I'm Looking Through You, I had gone to the library and checked out She's Not There, because I wanted so badly to know more of Jenny's story.
Whether you have an interest in transgender lives/issues or not, I encourage you to read this book, if only because it is so tremendously well told and endearing.
I'm a cisgender female and I've always felt very comfortable in that fact. There was never a reason for me to question my gender, so I didn't. Nor have I had any close friends who were transgender, so while I have always been a sympathetic ally to the transgender community, I haven't spent much time reading up on transgender issues or, even, what it's like to be transgender.
I started reading I'm Looking Through You and found it extremely difficult to stop. I could barely put it down. As someone who has previously, on many occasions, said that I "hate memoirs" (honestly I haven't even read that many memoirs), I was surprised at myself.
I'm Looking Through You was a beautifully written memoir that read like a novel. Boylan painted an ethereal picture of her childhood in a haunted house that seemed, at times, unbelievable. The house took on its own character, formed by the ghosts that inhabited it, and this character was as mysterious and complex as any in the book. Except, of course, for Jenny herself. She was witty, funny, intelligent... I really cared what happened to her, and rooted for her through to the end. I cried when she cried. I laughed when she cracked a joke. She was such an empathetic character - such an empathetic person, because as an author, her voice shone through in the most remarkable and, at times, touching way.
At the end of the book, I found myself wanting to re-read it again and again, for the first time each time. The story was so enchanting and the mystical quality that surrounded Jenny herself and the story wrapped me up, too.
This book opened a door for me to learn more about what it's like to be transgender, as well as the extremely complex and amorphous concept of gender in and of itself. Before I had read the final chapter in I'm Looking Through You, I had gone to the library and checked out She's Not There, because I wanted so badly to know more of Jenny's story.
Whether you have an interest in transgender lives/issues or not, I encourage you to read this book, if only because it is so tremendously well told and endearing.
avelavalamp's review
4.0
I admire the way Boylan fast-forwards and rewinds through time without jarring the reader. I’m still trying to work out how she did it structurally, but I noticed a lot of loop-backs that fit nicely together many chapters later. This book is about her relationship with her sister and her dad and herself, and it’s beautifully done with affection and tenderness. There are layers of humor that are subtle and enrich the whole book, but it’s never overdone. At one point, I found myself laughing so much at Gammy that I had to stop mid-run and catch my breath.