Scan barcode
A review by sopesock
Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
i really liked reading this.
"Between perfect and real" follows dean as he comes out as trans during his last year of high school.
so far i've only read books with trans characters who were already out, so this was a new perspective.
as a cis (?) person (????? as a person who is not currently considering correcting people assuming i am cis? ) it's difficult to imagine JUST how hard that entire process of coming out is. that phase when not everyone knows yet, someone taking your choice to come out away from you, and having to deal with cis grief all while managing transphobia and dysphoria - these were all themes stoeve depicted very well.
i think this book is so important and informative in that way.
considering the fact the book does and has to touch onto some potentially triggering topics (see cw's), i want to say well done to how the author executed this.
dean going by that name even before he was out was a smart way to avoid dropping his deadname.
(i'm thinking of the melissa/george debacle -- as a bookseller it really gets you in a tricky situation when the character is consistently deadnamed throughout a book because that makes recommending it extremely difficult and confusing; also and more importantly it might make it seem like an okay thing to do to uninformed readers)
it is just completely irrelevant to the reader to know the mc's deadname, so i was glad it was never mentioned.
in general there was just a good balance between depicting trans- and homophobia realistically without it being too violent or triggering.
plot-wise -- i liked that not everything works out for him and romance was not the end goal. i'm having a hard time reviewing this, but the point is i enjoyed it, even if it wasn't a five star read as i did have some problems with how zoe's and dean's relationship was written.
((((slight spoilers from here)))
it was basically clear from the beginning that things wouldn't work out between them, but i was so confused at times bc there were so many little moments of support from zoe that seemed very genuine only for her to suddenly make problematic comments out of the blue. i felt like it wasn't in character, or that her character just wasn't well thought out. the way we got to know her in the beginning, i would have expected her to talk openly about her concerns with dean's transition, not suddenly be bitchy about it. i guess i was a little disappointed in how all that was executed.
so i really can't give five stars.
nevertheless i will be recommending this --
it's as much a book for the community as it is from the community to people looking to understand what it means to be trans.
"Between perfect and real" follows dean as he comes out as trans during his last year of high school.
so far i've only read books with trans characters who were already out, so this was a new perspective.
as a cis (?) person (????? as a person who is not currently considering correcting people assuming i am cis? ) it's difficult to imagine JUST how hard that entire process of coming out is. that phase when not everyone knows yet, someone taking your choice to come out away from you, and having to deal with cis grief all while managing transphobia and dysphoria - these were all themes stoeve depicted very well.
i think this book is so important and informative in that way.
considering the fact the book does and has to touch onto some potentially triggering topics (see cw's), i want to say well done to how the author executed this.
dean going by that name even before he was out was a smart way to avoid dropping his deadname.
(i'm thinking of the melissa/george debacle -- as a bookseller it really gets you in a tricky situation when the character is consistently deadnamed throughout a book because that makes recommending it extremely difficult and confusing; also and more importantly it might make it seem like an okay thing to do to uninformed readers)
it is just completely irrelevant to the reader to know the mc's deadname, so i was glad it was never mentioned.
in general there was just a good balance between depicting trans- and homophobia realistically without it being too violent or triggering.
plot-wise -- i liked that not everything works out for him and romance was not the end goal. i'm having a hard time reviewing this, but the point is i enjoyed it, even if it wasn't a five star read as i did have some problems with how zoe's and dean's relationship was written.
((((slight spoilers from here)))
it was basically clear from the beginning that things wouldn't work out between them, but i was so confused at times bc there were so many little moments of support from zoe that seemed very genuine only for her to suddenly make problematic comments out of the blue. i felt like it wasn't in character, or that her character just wasn't well thought out. the way we got to know her in the beginning, i would have expected her to talk openly about her concerns with dean's transition, not suddenly be bitchy about it. i guess i was a little disappointed in how all that was executed.
so i really can't give five stars.
nevertheless i will be recommending this --
it's as much a book for the community as it is from the community to people looking to understand what it means to be trans.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Outing, Homophobia, and Bullying