Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jrd_reads 's review for:
The Danish Girl
by David Ebershoff
I put this on my "to read" shelf before news that this will be made into a movie-not that this is relevant. It will be interesting to see how the movie deviates from the book. First of all, I don't understand why the author chose to pick actual people to base this on and then not write a true story, but fictionalize it. Seems that other readers have though this as well. I was looking forward to this book, because I am interested in transgender experiences but this was not that. Rather than Einar identifying with being a female, it seemed that the author presented this more as dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder) as Lili did not seem to remember anything that was related to Einar, or have some vague recollection of events or places that he had visited but experienced more like someone told her about them than actually having the same experience. None of the information that I have read or have received through conversations with people who are transgender has been remotely close to this-they just identify with being the opposite gender-not that they are attempting with being a completely different person. I have never read or listened to anything by this author before but found some of the details distracting-like why the need to describe the pock marks on Greda's face or that one of the doctors had large black pores, this did not add to the story but made me think 'why is this in here?!'. The characters were complex in the book, to see the transition of Lili coming into herself and no longer needing Greda and Greda losing control over someone that she had developed almost a maternal relationship with-rather than altered a romantic relationship. There were times that I was annoyed with Lili for seeming to do nothing w/o Greda and then annoyed with Greda for being upset that Lili was developing a separate from her and then realizing that Greda was not only grieving the loss of her friend as she moved on, but the loss of her husband. Again it will be interesting to see how the book deviates, if Greda will be supportive, will it weave more of the 'real story', etc.