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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
I really loved this book, it was written so elegantly and there were some really beautiful passages. The characters seemed so real and the whole story was set up in a way that was more like a snapshot of Lily's life, which had a before and after, rather than the journey from Einar to Lily with a beginning and end which I loved.
slow-paced
Boring. I would have never made it through this novel had I read it. That being said it was hard to listen to even. I enjoyed the premises of this book discussing serious matters in regards to gender identification, but that's about it. The characters were snorefest extraordinaire.
medium-paced
honestly quite boring. I thought the books would give more emotional insight but it was more just a narration of events with surprising little focus on what Lilly was going through.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
TW: This review has the vitriol of an angry trans person who has been through entirely Too Much (which I name, without details) to have the patience for a stint like this.
I haven't read this. The fact that reviewers and fans are deadnaming and misgendering and treating trans people like our lives revolve around some kind of Before Persona and After Persona, instead of real individual people, tells me enough. It breaks every aspect of basic etiquette to completely erase who someone has fought to be recognized as. I only came out in 2011 and I still
The profound disrespect for dead trans people (regardless of how our deaths come to be) is reprehensible.
I can only hope, to divine forces, that when I am dead, authors don't taint my memory this way. To alter societal perceptions of people like me, by having the gall to publish a book about me and make killer bank, movie deals off that exploitation. I feel simultaneously furious and the resignation of hope, knowing that when I die: ignorant people may still write cissexist bastardizations of everything I have grown up on the salted grounds of. I am alive now, and I have the opportunity to speak, with it carried in my heart the dead ones I have known, to make sure people do better, knowing that they can. I would not be so ferocious if I did not feel conviction that people can do better. I would not keep going at all if I did not have faith that my words will land with someone out there.
The movie's existence was a disgrace to trans representation and the book is to blame for it. I will never forgive cis people for allowing so many people's first perception of who we are to be so, so far from the truth. This is misguided at best and fatal at worst, and I know its worst all too well and personally.
Mind you, a lot of my feelings about this were mixed up with Boys Don't Cry. These things were all the trans media we had for a while. It just goes to show that bad representation is not a step forward. It's not even a standstill. It's just bad.
I haven't read this. The fact that reviewers and fans are deadnaming and misgendering and treating trans people like our lives revolve around some kind of Before Persona and After Persona, instead of real individual people, tells me enough. It breaks every aspect of basic etiquette to completely erase who someone has fought to be recognized as. I only came out in 2011 and I still
Spoiler
lost family, friends, any semblance of health. I was homeless thrice over, and to this date, I have been raped, attempted suicide, and my ex-girlfriend (a trans woman) died of suicide this past May. My story is not a lonely one, I am no outlier. So many trans people fight to the death to live and be recognized as we are. And it fills me with molten, infernal, vitriol to live in a society where we are expected to die for it, and even then, that isn't enough.The profound disrespect for dead trans people (regardless of how our deaths come to be) is reprehensible.
I can only hope, to divine forces, that when I am dead, authors don't taint my memory this way. To alter societal perceptions of people like me, by having the gall to publish a book about me and make killer bank, movie deals off that exploitation. I feel simultaneously furious and the resignation of hope, knowing that when I die: ignorant people may still write cissexist bastardizations of everything I have grown up on the salted grounds of. I am alive now, and I have the opportunity to speak, with it carried in my heart the dead ones I have known, to make sure people do better, knowing that they can. I would not be so ferocious if I did not feel conviction that people can do better. I would not keep going at all if I did not have faith that my words will land with someone out there.
The movie's existence was a disgrace to trans representation and the book is to blame for it. I will never forgive cis people for allowing so many people's first perception of who we are to be so, so far from the truth. This is misguided at best and fatal at worst, and I know its worst all too well and personally.
Mind you, a lot of my feelings about this were mixed up with Boys Don't Cry. These things were all the trans media we had for a while. It just goes to show that bad representation is not a step forward. It's not even a standstill. It's just bad.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I've put off writing this review so hard that I hadn't reviewed any books I read after this one. This was the selection for a RL Movie/Book Club in which we only read books that also have a film or television adaptation. We read and watch and then compare and discuss. I did not like either this month.
I understand the medical importance of the first physically successful sex change operation. My distaste for this book (and film) comes from the idea that Einar/Lili is a trans individual. They are not. Einar/Lili is mentally ill. She, (and I am going to refer to her that way from here on out since it's what she preferred) has dissociative personality disorder at the very least, and multiple personality disorder at worst. Einar was not a person raised as a male that felt only female inside. Einar saw Lili as a completely different person.
From the beginning, Einar refers to Lili in the third person, seems not to understand or remember what Lili has done in Einar's absence, and otherwise presents as two distinct individuals. Furthermore, Lili commits adultery while still married to Gerta and thinks this is acceptable because it's Lili, not Einar. Einar is married to Gerta, but Lili is not. Einar would never have betrayed Gerta in this way. You need no further evidence that we are dealing with two very separate entities.
Mental illness is real. Sometimes mental illness is present in a trans person because of the trauma associated with that state of being and the unacceptance of those around them. Einar/Lili is mentally ill in a very different way. I feel this book is dangerous in that people unfamiliar with anyone who is genuinely trans, will be lulled into thinking that being trans is a mental illness in itself. It is not! I cannot stress that enough.
The doctor who performed the successful surgeries would not have done so today. Before gender reassignment surgery there is a battery of mental tests that must be performed to ensure the individual undergoing the surgery is not mentally ill. Einar/Lili would not pass these tests. I believe this doctor, although a visionary revolutionist in the field of medicine, was performing these operations, not because he should, but to see if he could. Never a good reason.
I understand the medical importance of the first physically successful sex change operation. My distaste for this book (and film) comes from the idea that Einar/Lili is a trans individual. They are not. Einar/Lili is mentally ill. She, (and I am going to refer to her that way from here on out since it's what she preferred) has dissociative personality disorder at the very least, and multiple personality disorder at worst. Einar was not a person raised as a male that felt only female inside. Einar saw Lili as a completely different person.
From the beginning, Einar refers to Lili in the third person, seems not to understand or remember what Lili has done in Einar's absence, and otherwise presents as two distinct individuals. Furthermore, Lili commits adultery while still married to Gerta and thinks this is acceptable because it's Lili, not Einar. Einar is married to Gerta, but Lili is not. Einar would never have betrayed Gerta in this way. You need no further evidence that we are dealing with two very separate entities.
Mental illness is real. Sometimes mental illness is present in a trans person because of the trauma associated with that state of being and the unacceptance of those around them. Einar/Lili is mentally ill in a very different way. I feel this book is dangerous in that people unfamiliar with anyone who is genuinely trans, will be lulled into thinking that being trans is a mental illness in itself. It is not! I cannot stress that enough.
The doctor who performed the successful surgeries would not have done so today. Before gender reassignment surgery there is a battery of mental tests that must be performed to ensure the individual undergoing the surgery is not mentally ill. Einar/Lili would not pass these tests. I believe this doctor, although a visionary revolutionist in the field of medicine, was performing these operations, not because he should, but to see if he could. Never a good reason.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A tragic love story set against the back drop of Europe during the years of the world war. This was one of the most thought provoking and complicated novels I’ve read, and I loved every second of it. Especially as a partner of someone going through their own gender transition and struggles, it was both comforting and challenging. This is an important work of LGBTQ historical fiction that I think all queer youth should engage with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: War
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes