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abirabishaw's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book was everything I needed right now. I connected very well with each of andrea bennett’s essays, but I also loved the vignettes on other Canadian queers. I didn’t necessarily connect as well with all of the snippets of other people’s lives, but I loved that they showcased Canadian queerness as more than just thin, white, digestibly androgynous people living in Montreal or Toronto.
silodear's review
Read almost half of this book. Found it remarkably boring. The writing wasn’t great. The interwoven profiles of other enby folks (separate from the author’s personal essays) were written as weird blurbs that felt like a very distanced clinical case note. I was so pumped for this one, but I couldn’t make it through.
floriannepb's review
4.0
Very interesting reflections. Good to read stories about rural Canadian queers.
alexacj's review
3.0
Probably actually a 3.5 for me, but I have mixed feelings on this one so I'm rounding down. The essays written by the author were good, though I didn't entirely agree that the one about assault allegations in the academic/lit community fit in very well with the rest of them. (It was a great essay on its own, though.) No, unfortunately what put me off here were the interspersed chapters that told the stories of various other queer & trans Canadians whom the author had interviewed. It wasn't the subject matter so much as the quality of the writing; most of them read like they'd been written in the first person by people with no writing experience whatsoever, and then hastily changed into third person afterward. Monotonous, repetitive, and without much shape or pacing. If the author was attempting to preserve the interviewees' stories in their own words, well... I do understand, but in my own opinion the end result was not... good. I think those sections needed more editing than they got.
So as a whole? This book did not feel cohesive. Individually I quite enjoyed most of the essays, but it seemed like perhaps half of them fit together well and then the rest were sprinkled in to finish out the book. Worth reading, I think. Albeit with many caveats.
So as a whole? This book did not feel cohesive. Individually I quite enjoyed most of the essays, but it seemed like perhaps half of them fit together well and then the rest were sprinkled in to finish out the book. Worth reading, I think. Albeit with many caveats.
ceris's review
Obviously I’m starved for books like this, and they’re very necessary and affirming to read. I was a little less sold on the 16 snapshots of queer millennials in small town Canada-at times I liked them, but I didn’t always feel like they had enough reason to be included. They weren’t fleshed out, and didn’t seem to contribute meaningfully. I would have been happy to have more of Andrea’s story, which was touching and relatable and honest and vulnerable.
croxanas's review
3.0
An interesting perspective into the life of a non-binary person and parenthood.
Some parts are very well written while others not so much. I found the style of writing in the additional stories strange - more detached and journalistic but not that engaging. I would have liked to read more of the author’s story as those chapters were the most engaging ones. The essay on the peoples poetry felt out of place in the broader book.
Over all worth the read if you’re looking to broaden your perspectives.
Some parts are very well written while others not so much. I found the style of writing in the additional stories strange - more detached and journalistic but not that engaging. I would have liked to read more of the author’s story as those chapters were the most engaging ones. The essay on the peoples poetry felt out of place in the broader book.
Over all worth the read if you’re looking to broaden your perspectives.