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alittlelou's review
4.0
I adore this story so much. It's my comfort movie that I watch it all the time, and I've read this book twice now. Although the writing is a LITTLE hard to read, compared to the smoothness of the movie, I love this book. The book has more substance to it, and I wish the movie was a better representation of the book. Just like Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman, I think that reading this book and getting all of the details first, and truly understanding all the beauty in their story really only makes the movie better. This is definitely one of those stories. You 100% should read this book or watch this movie, but I think it would be worth your time to do both.
daddyprentiss's review against another edition
3.0
This is a beautifully written book. Even though it’s a work of fiction, it’s clear that the author did a lot of research on the real Lili Elbe, the first woman to undergo gender confirmation surgery.
I just didn’t love it. It felt like a book I’d be forced to read in a high school English class. The writing was tedious and simile-saturated to every last unimportant detail. The info dump chapters were boring, and at times I was forced to remind myself that I was supposed to care for the characters. I can appreciate the importance of the story being told, but I was kind of bored while reading the whole thing. The main theme was the only thing keeping me attached- had this not been a queer story, I would have given up around chapter 2.
All in all, I would highly recommend this book to folks who like this style of literature. I don’t regret reading the book, but it’s also not one I’ll be picking up for a reread.
I just didn’t love it. It felt like a book I’d be forced to read in a high school English class. The writing was tedious and simile-saturated to every last unimportant detail. The info dump chapters were boring, and at times I was forced to remind myself that I was supposed to care for the characters. I can appreciate the importance of the story being told, but I was kind of bored while reading the whole thing. The main theme was the only thing keeping me attached- had this not been a queer story, I would have given up around chapter 2.
All in all, I would highly recommend this book to folks who like this style of literature. I don’t regret reading the book, but it’s also not one I’ll be picking up for a reread.
katieem's review
1.0
This book was completely unrealistic. I mean if your husband decides to change sexes on you, don’t you think you may have a little bit of a reaction to it? I was kinda hoping for a little more internal dialogue as well.
jcpdiesel21's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting, thought-provoking take on identity based on the life of a brave, groundbreaking individual. While I didn't find the writing to be particularly brilliant and several details are inexplicably changed to satisfy a wider audience, Ebershoff does a fairly good job of stitching together existing information about Lili Elbe into a compelling narrative to tell her story. What I appreciated most about this book is the way that Lili's journey is relayed equally from Greta's point of view; too often the spouse or partner gets lost in the focus on the main individual's struggle, and these people are affected nearly as much and add welcome dimension to the story.
thereistime's review against another edition
5.0
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.
ktxx22's review
2.0
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.
annaboe's review
medium-paced
3.0
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.
comfort_33's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.75
vagaybond's review against another edition
1.0
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.