Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Gender Queer: A Memoir

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

21 reviews

steveatwaywords's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

This book has already received noteworthy and deserved acclaim, not simply because it is a genuine and honest account of personal questions around sexual and gender identity for young people (and older, as well) but because it walks vulnerably but bravely into territories of personhood that few books like it do: a focus on the body challenges created by the traditions of binary identities, from the social to retail to health care.

It's fascinating that Kobabe, having been raised in a fortunately fairly open-minded family, nevertheless struggles with questions e can't easily articulate with anyone. One can imagine how difficult this is, therefore, for most; more, ironically and tragically, this book in particular has endured numerous challenges to inclusion in schools and libraries for a fairly limited number of explicit panels when it is this very story of dialogue and inclusion which is the subject of the work.

Perhaps some wish it banned because the topic is unsettling, uncomfortable. It absolutely is, especially for readers who find themselves too easily identified in its pages (myself at times included). It is common, then, that we might say that "this book is not for everyone;" I reply in this rare instance, however, precisely that this book is and must be for everyone. As painfully educational as it might be for some, this temporary discomfort is a point of growth. Equally, however, it is a space of affirmation for anyone (not merely the queer) who has hard questions about what is normal, what is healthy, what is shared, and who they are.

While Kobabe's chosen pronouns, for instance, are less known to me (e, em, eir>- as suggested by Michael Spivak), the simple and temporary struggle I have with them is substantially minute in contrast to the recognition and comfort (re: respect) of the one I am addressing. And so it goes with the constantly evolving linguistic landscape as we attempt, fit and refit, discard and revise the various names and labels of all peoples. Gender Queer obviously doesn't make people gay: it addresses so many of our unspoken assumptions and recognizes their legitimacy.

The reading is quick and basic in its assumptions of what previous knowledge a reader brings to it. Its topics are often explicit and real--periods, sexual experimentation, graphic conversations, love--and it does not end absolutely in a cynical or optimistic space. There is yet work to be done for all of us. And Kobabe's specific gender identity, troublesome for all to pin down, is mostly due to the failures of arbitrary language and our limited framings of identity. But along the way Kobabe offers enough other thinkers and writers on the subject for readers to dig further.

For young readers with questions, this is an excellent book. For the rest of us, I wonder what an unwillingness to spend a couple of hours asking vital questions along with Maia Kobabe is really about.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense

5.0

I'm always trying to learn more about trans experiences. This book was very heartfelt and beautiful.

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lochanreads's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

A boldly revealing and vulnerable perspective on gender identity. It pointedly illustrates the issues and confusion of growing up, navigating adolescence and articulating one's experience, as an individual existing on the outside of the gender binary.

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smeyer's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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emoryscott's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

As a transgender reader, I loved this book. If I had read this in middle school or high school, I would have understood myself a lot better. I’m sad that this book has risen the ranks of banned books to become THE most banned book in America. I hope this book gets into the hands of the people who need it somehow.

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hayleyvem's review

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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brindolyn's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

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kylasmv15's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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cemeterygay's review

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3.0

While I did really enjoy the discussions of exploration of gender identity and specifically how much the author's experiences rang with my own, the way fandom discussions were had was deeply uncomfortable and quite frankly distracting. The casual positive mentions of Sam/Dean (incest) fics as well as RPF (real person fanfiction) and the intense fixation on gay men was incredibly distracting and hard to read.

I thought the art style was okay and I liked very specific scenes, specifically those related to the depiction of medical.

I don't think I will pick this book back up again but I don't regret reading it.

I wish the Harry Potter references and the fanfiction scenes were removed but everything else was great.

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middumullu's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

really useful, i loved the illustrations and the author's honesty. there wasn't a strong conclusion to the book, but that kind of makes sense - life goes on and our ideas change.

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