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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
The third YA book that I've read with a protagonist who is transgender. This is the first one where I actually connected with the character and really felt empathy for them.
Definitely a good read. I learned a lot from it, not only about Gabe and how he manages his life, also about music. :)
A YA story with a lot of heart. Some of the language is a little outdated, but the culture has moved fast. A good introduction to a trans* protagonist. Characters you can care for, although some showed little development or progress.
Cronn-Mills writes an engaging protagonist, Gabe, a trans boy living in Minnesota and trying to figure out his place. Although he has fairly supportive parents, a great best friend, and a wonderful mentor, it's still not easy transitioning to his new identity. Cronn-Mills' depiction of a kid coming out as trans is one a lot of people can relate to and find empathy for.
Today I read Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills for the second time. The first time was last summer just after I’d bought it from Gay’s The Word. I sat down in a park just found the corner from the British Museum and read it all.
Sometimes reading a book in one sitting can skew my opinion so I wanted to read it again and no, it was just as good as I remember.
I’ve read a few books with trans main characters and honestly this is the only one I’ve read so far where being trans isn’t the only thing going on in it. Gabe feels like a real person and while coming out is an important part of the story, his radio show and his feelings for girls are also important parts of the story. Coming out is a blip in his story, not the whole thing.
Gabe is out to his family who ignore it and continue to deadname him. A lot of his family life resonates with me because I’m in a similar situation, especially last year just before I started college.
I’ve included part of a letter from the author who looked back on the five years since she wrote the book and while what she says is absolutely true, the portrayal of Gabe felt far more authentic to me than any of the other books with trans main characters I’ve read that were written by cis authors (all women funnily enough. I’ve read two books with trans girl MCs written by trans women and one written by a genderqueer author but no trans men. The Danish Girl is written by a cis man though I haven’t read it yet.) so she definitely did a good job.
This book is definitely going on my list of top LGBT+ books
Sometimes reading a book in one sitting can skew my opinion so I wanted to read it again and no, it was just as good as I remember.
I’ve read a few books with trans main characters and honestly this is the only one I’ve read so far where being trans isn’t the only thing going on in it. Gabe feels like a real person and while coming out is an important part of the story, his radio show and his feelings for girls are also important parts of the story. Coming out is a blip in his story, not the whole thing.
Gabe is out to his family who ignore it and continue to deadname him. A lot of his family life resonates with me because I’m in a similar situation, especially last year just before I started college.
I’ve included part of a letter from the author who looked back on the five years since she wrote the book and while what she says is absolutely true, the portrayal of Gabe felt far more authentic to me than any of the other books with trans main characters I’ve read that were written by cis authors (all women funnily enough. I’ve read two books with trans girl MCs written by trans women and one written by a genderqueer author but no trans men. The Danish Girl is written by a cis man though I haven’t read it yet.) so she definitely did a good job.
This book is definitely going on my list of top LGBT+ books
This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes
Cover Impressions: The cover grabbed me enough to make me take a look at the synopsis, so that is something. I like the graffiti feel of it, but would prefer for it to be a little more gritty, like an image taken from an overpass - raw and real.
The Gist: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children chronicles a few, particularly eventful months in the life of Gabe, a teenaged transexual boy. Gabe was born Elizabeth and has recently "come out" to his parents about his true sexuality and his decision to stop hiding. He has also begun working on a late night radio show which forces him into the spotlight and endangers himself, his friends and his family when some people decide that Gabe would be better off staying hidden.
Review: I chose to request this galley because I have read so little YA fiction that features trans characters. As a teacher, I am always trying to find ways to better understand the struggles that my students might be going through and I hoped Beautiful Music for Ugly Children might provide some insight. This was one of the books high points. It was interesting and sometimes moving to watch the characters as they struggled with Liz's decision to start living as Gabe. There was some conflict between he and his best friend as she tried to decide what their new relationship would look like and where the boundary lines lay. There was also a struggle in his parents that I, as a mom, could understand. Having raised Elizabeth from a little girl, her parents displayed feelings of anger, disbelief and guilt as they struggled to accept her as Gabe and to change the way that their family interacted. It is easy for books like this to try to do too much and to make a complete 180 from emotional wreak to warm, loving family, but I feel like Beautiful Music for Ugly Children didn't make this leap and that it showed, instead, a believable level of growth on the part of the parents.
This novel had some great potential and it touched on some very important themes. However, I feel that it could have done more. There was the underlying threat of violence but this never felt entirely real. If the author had chosen to start off small and build toward the ultimate showdown, I think it would have felt more realistic. There was also the tendency for things to be a little too easy. There just happens to be an automatic audience to a brand new radio show that is so enthralled by the DJ's music choices that they take on tasks to please him? There just happens to be a radio contest looking for a young, fresh DJ to launch their career? The transgendered kid comes out and is immediately embraced by his (hot) best friend and pursued by his (also hot) classmate? Opportunities seemed to fall in Gabe's lap and things were a little too convienent for my taste.
I also had a little trouble connecting with the character of Gabe. I liked him, sure. But I didn't really CARE about him. There was something I couldn't put my finger on stopped me from emphasizing with him. Perhaps it was the length. This is a short novel, and there was A LOT crammed into those pages. That didn't leave a lot of room for character development or back-story. I really would have preferred if the novel started with Liz, a closeted transgendered kid, and then chronicled her transition to Gabe and coming out to her family and friends, rather than to have started after all that occurred.
Beautiful Music for Ugly Children fell short of my expectations, but was still a good read that provided some insight into the feelings of a teen in transition.
Teaching/Parental Notes:
Age: 16 and up
Gender: Either
Sex: Kissing, Talk of Erections, Allusions to Sex
Violence: Threats, Sexual Violence, Attack with a Baseball Bat
Inappropriate Language: LOTS! Bitch, Ass, Dick, Shit, Carpet Muncher, Goddamn, Jesus, Pussy
Substance Use/Abuse: Smoking, Underage Drinking
Elizabeth is really a boy (Gabe) and now that she is graduating from HS, she wants to be Gabe 24/7. Gabe also loves music and his DJ neighbor gets him a 1 hours weekly time slot on community radio. Unfortunately, not everyone is accepting of Gabe. The book is well written and I enjoyed it all, but I feel the ending was unsatisfactory. The author could have made it a little bit longer.
This is a Young Adult novel about a pre-t pre-op trans guy named Gabe. He’s minimally out and lives in a town with some great people and some dangerous jerks. Most of the book is set between his house, his music obsessed old man neighbor’s house, and the radio station where he DJs a late night show once a week. The plot is equal parts trans issues and radio/music talk. The book spans the gamut of coming-out reactions, from “Hey bro, that doesn’t matter to me at all” to “I’m going to kill you with a baseball bat, so you better watch your back.” I enjoyed the music B plot because it helped to set the story in the real world instead of some vacuum where a trans person doesn’t have anything else in their life but trans stuff. For a con, the narrative is a bit dry and humorless. I understand Gabe is depressed but it would have been a little more enjoyable if it was a bit less flat or he was more emotive in thought. The book falls into the YA trap of “suddenly DRAMA” at the end which I could have done without. Some plot threads were left unresolved which was fine and realistic, and some were wrapped up too quickly after a large build up. I would have a little hesitation sharing it with a mostly closeted ftm youth because it might make him afraid of coming out due to the backlash and death threats Gabe gets. I would rather share it with cis teens so they could have a better understanding of their ftm peers. All in all, the book was a quick and easy read, but I wish Gabe’s character had been a little more engaging considering the book is 1st person POV from his perspective.
Despite the book being written by a cis woman, it rang true to me without feeling fake, gimmicky, or stereotypical. Mostly slice of life, could have used a little more structure and the pacing felt rushed at the end. Not ground breaking, but not bad either. Short enough to be worth giving a shot if you’re interested.
Despite the book being written by a cis woman, it rang true to me without feeling fake, gimmicky, or stereotypical. Mostly slice of life, could have used a little more structure and the pacing felt rushed at the end. Not ground breaking, but not bad either. Short enough to be worth giving a shot if you’re interested.
This is one of my favorite books, and carries and extremely accurate depiction of being a lgbtq+ teenager.