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I was hoping this book would be good. Personally as someone who is questioning their own geder and someone who fights every day to support LGBT rights...
My first thought when reading was, "Okay, an unreliable character. A jerk and not some goodie-two-shoes pixie character."
However, it only took 50 pages for me to realize that this book isn't very good at all. The writing is completely jagged and it would have been more personal if it were written in first person or even second, but not third.
Our main character is a somewhat, grey homophobic, excuse-using teen. I know how teens are and I was one myself, but I think that the mentality that the character has to be "as manly as possible" including trying to show off some completely inappropriate masculinity-based behavior was mind boggling and horrible.
I can say that I liked seeing a character fight their demons such as society and expectations and the future that his parents want for him,but not for who he really is. I like that. I like that he's fighting to be himself and that he's not afraid to fight for his life and to be himself as much as possible.
However....
Our character J constantly put down other characters, treated certain situations horribly and selfishly, and tried to pass off harassment as just "feelings". While some things were good in consideration, the constant backfire of awful decision making and not very good writing put me on a standstill.
He takes "innocent" advantage of his friend while she's sleeping and when she calls him out on it, he says it'snot the way it is, and only focuses on the anger of his friend indirectly calling her a girl, and in the case of J, having a friend tell him like others have, that he's gay. And boy, does this kid hate being called gay. And not in the, "Hey, I'm not gay, I'm male and I feel really uncomfortable being called gay and I wish others would stop saying it" but in the "No I would never be gay, I'm not gay, I don't like girls like that," and constantly dehumanizing the idea all together. It's not pretty.
Maybe someone else can get through this book, maybe someone who feels more related to the main character can take it with a grain of salt. But I really can not, for a single moment, excuse any of J's actions within the first three chapters.
Absolutely DNFing this book.
My first thought when reading was, "Okay, an unreliable character. A jerk and not some goodie-two-shoes pixie character."
However, it only took 50 pages for me to realize that this book isn't very good at all. The writing is completely jagged and it would have been more personal if it were written in first person or even second, but not third.
Our main character is a somewhat, grey homophobic, excuse-using teen. I know how teens are and I was one myself, but I think that the mentality that the character has to be "as manly as possible" including trying to show off some completely inappropriate masculinity-based behavior was mind boggling and horrible.
I can say that I liked seeing a character fight their demons such as society and expectations and the future that his parents want for him,but not for who he really is. I like that. I like that he's fighting to be himself and that he's not afraid to fight for his life and to be himself as much as possible.
However....
Our character J constantly put down other characters, treated certain situations horribly and selfishly, and tried to pass off harassment as just "feelings". While some things were good in consideration, the constant backfire of awful decision making and not very good writing put me on a standstill.
He takes "innocent" advantage of his friend while she's sleeping and when she calls him out on it, he says it'snot the way it is, and only focuses on the anger of his friend indirectly calling her a girl, and in the case of J, having a friend tell him like others have, that he's gay. And boy, does this kid hate being called gay. And not in the, "Hey, I'm not gay, I'm male and I feel really uncomfortable being called gay and I wish others would stop saying it" but in the "No I would never be gay, I'm not gay, I don't like girls like that," and constantly dehumanizing the idea all together. It's not pretty.
Maybe someone else can get through this book, maybe someone who feels more related to the main character can take it with a grain of salt. But I really can not, for a single moment, excuse any of J's actions within the first three chapters.
Absolutely DNFing this book.
I was going to try to rate this, but I don't think I can.
I liked it. It's a good book and I'm glad of its existence, hopefully some trans youth are getting a lot out of it.
I think. A big issue for me was that a lot of it resonated too much. I had to stop every few chapters and take a break. It isn't that I'm a lot like J or that our situations are that similar, but similar enough that I had a hard time reading this.
But that's not a bad thing. It's still a good book and its existence is a good thing.
I liked it. It's a good book and I'm glad of its existence, hopefully some trans youth are getting a lot out of it.
I think. A big issue for me was that a lot of it resonated too much. I had to stop every few chapters and take a break. It isn't that I'm a lot like J or that our situations are that similar, but similar enough that I had a hard time reading this.
But that's not a bad thing. It's still a good book and its existence is a good thing.