A review by emfass
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

5.0

A beautiful, gut-wrenching read. Honestly I don't want to say too much more because I think it is best to go in knowing very little, except perhaps that this is a fictionalized memoir, not a true-to-life nonfiction one, though it carries many truths. The narrator remains nameless, and is a young Asian trans girl trying to find a place for herself.

Haunting, heartbreaking, powerful, hopeful, full of magical realism and the power of trans femininity. I read it on audiobook and would love to revisit it in hard copy form.

Many many quotes I loved that I forgot to capture as I was voraciously listening, but one I did write down: 
 "That's the difference between love and hunger. Hunger is a story you get stuck in. Love's the story that takes you somewhere new." 

I'm so grateful to the Bad Bitch Book Club's LGBTQIA+ subgroup for picking this one, I don't know if I would have heard about it or read it otherwise!
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