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kdahlo's review
3.0
I liked this book, but I struggled with it in the way that happens when you are similar to a person, but different in a few ways that are very important to you. I have more thoughts on this, but they are better suited to a discussion than to an essay.
graveyardpansy's review
4.0
4.5 stars — content and style were delightful!! i wish there was a bit more reflection on the way Belc discussed Anna’s depression and medication for it, as someone on long-term antidepressants i felt uneasy with the way it was handled. the choppy essay-like style works well, although at times i wished for more connection between the sections and pages. but it all feels woven together well, nothing was confusing, and overall i really enjoyed it.
dormilona's review
This book was so much more than I expected. I was really moved and impressed by how well the book was put together. Belc's perspective and experience was something I needed to read.
montivagant's review against another edition
Kinda wanna recommend this book to my mom while making it clear I do not ever intend on getting pregnant. I think it's an intersection of transness and parenthood that she would find interesting
gannent's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
I feel like I have to split this review into two parts: the book and the audiobook recording. The book itself is really interesting. I liked the author’s non linear narrative of his life and his family, and I liked the interplay between his childhood and his children’s childhoods, his parenting experience and his parents’ parenting experience. It felt generational in a really interesting way, and like a memoir of a broader family at the same time of the author, showing how the author was shaped by family and vice versa.
I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I read the physical copy instead of listening to the audiobook. It seemed like the author was doing interesting things with formatting that were completely lost in narration. I couldn’t tell where chapters began and ended. There were numbers listed, but it only occurred to me now while writing this that those might have been chapter numbers because they were completely contextless. Sometimes I thought they might have been like a list, or like he was doing something poetic with the formatting and style with the numbers that I was missing, but maybe they were chapter numbers. So I felt like a lot of context and clarity was lost from the printed page. Also, the author is not a professional narrator. I appreciate the idea of telling your own story, but there is a skill to audiobook narration that is lost.
I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I read the physical copy instead of listening to the audiobook. It seemed like the author was doing interesting things with formatting that were completely lost in narration. I couldn’t tell where chapters began and ended. There were numbers listed, but it only occurred to me now while writing this that those might have been chapter numbers because they were completely contextless. Sometimes I thought they might have been like a list, or like he was doing something poetic with the formatting and style with the numbers that I was missing, but maybe they were chapter numbers. So I felt like a lot of context and clarity was lost from the printed page. Also, the author is not a professional narrator. I appreciate the idea of telling your own story, but there is a skill to audiobook narration that is lost.
corijroberts's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
(General spoilers ahead!) An interesting, honest memoir that I sometimes felt was borderline too honest. The author explicitly says some not flattering things about loved ones, including his wife (e.g., that he hates when she talks about a certain subject that I don’t remember, that sometimes she thinks sex can fix anything), that seem a bit wild to say when those people are still alive and in his life. I think this illustrates an inherent problem with memoirs written by young people: either you’re brutally honest about people in your life in a way I don’t think most of them would enjoy or you downplay things to not offend them. That said, I understand why the author chose to write a memoir so young. He has a lot of interesting things to say about the intersection of parenthood and being trans.
My other issue with this book was that it really seemed like Sampson (sp?) was his favorite child. I get that the memoir is about his experiences giving birth and whatnot, but Sampson is mentioned far more often than his other children, who presumably also play a large part in his life. It kind of gave the energy of parents who have one child that’s adopted + one that’s genetically related to them and greatly prefer the latter.
My other issue with this book was that it really seemed like Sampson (sp?) was his favorite child. I get that the memoir is about his experiences giving birth and whatnot, but Sampson is mentioned far more often than his other children, who presumably also play a large part in his life. It kind of gave the energy of parents who have one child that’s adopted + one that’s genetically related to them and greatly prefer the latter.