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A review by wandering_canuck
Fairest: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
1.5
This book was a slog to get through. Though I did enjoy the beginning where the author recounts growing up in the Philippines, it quickly went downhill once she moved to the States.
My issues with the book:
1. The narrator is simply unlikeable. Arrogant and pompous and self-centered, she holds herself in the highest regard (most beautiful, most intelligent, most desired.)
2. Although I have a live and let live philosophy, Ithe narrator's story just doesn't ring true. I came away with the sense that she felt she could live as either a man or a woman, but didn't really delve too deeply into why she opted for gender reassignment surgery.
3. The last half of the book lacked detail. The author appeared fixated on her appearance, but I didn't feel an emotional connection that what must have been a very emotional time of self discovery.
4. As someone who is neither Asian nor trans, I am hesitant to judge too harshly, but the author comes off as being both anti-Asian and anti-trans. I'm sure her transformation was complicated, I was not convinced that anything she did was anything more than attention seeking.
My issues with the book:
1. The narrator is simply unlikeable. Arrogant and pompous and self-centered, she holds herself in the highest regard (most beautiful, most intelligent, most desired.)
2. Although I have a live and let live philosophy, Ithe narrator's story just doesn't ring true. I came away with the sense that she felt she could live as either a man or a woman, but didn't really delve too deeply into why she opted for gender reassignment surgery.
3. The last half of the book lacked detail. The author appeared fixated on her appearance, but I didn't feel an emotional connection that what must have been a very emotional time of self discovery.
4. As someone who is neither Asian nor trans, I am hesitant to judge too harshly, but the author comes off as being both anti-Asian and anti-trans. I'm sure her transformation was complicated, I was not convinced that anything she did was anything more than attention seeking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, Infidelity, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Transphobia