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A review by readingpicnic
Some Strange Music Draws Me In: A Novel by Griffin Hansbury
4.5
I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher.
This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me! The author perfectly captures what it’s like to grow up queer and trans in a small, conservative town, including the quintessential homoerotic best friendship with your girl best friend. The switches between the past and present were done in a very satisfying way that always kept me reading the present chapters in suspense to find out what happened in the past. I love the representations of different generations of trans and queer people in this story and how they interact, such as Max and Sylvia, Max and Dakota, and Max and his students. The present-day chapters have very good reflections and insights into what his family and friends must have been going through in the past that influenced how they treated others or reacted to certain situations, such as Jules and his mom, and this understanding was very refreshing to see, even if he didn’t forgive these people for their actions. Max looks back on his childhood while acknowledging its more problematic aspects or the language that was used, but still honestly depicts what happened and what was said, which I also appreciated. Overall, I just loved the depiction of a little kid being too weird and queer for a small town that can see their queerness before they can, as that’s how I look back on my own childhood with more clarity. The characters also felt incredibly real and complicated.
The present-day chapters introduced lots of interesting commentary on young queer people trying and struggling to interact with older queer people, or queer elders who may not be up to date on newer labels for gender identities and sexualities. I liked seeing Max’s growth in accepting that queer and trans youth are kind of doing their own thing that’s different from how he grew up as a bi trans boy and that he has more to learn, as he did seem too dismissive of newer queer and trans labels for some of the book. The ending was very satisfying, and I am happy with how everything wrapped up with Sylvia and Dakota because I was incredibly nervous for them both for most of the story.
This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me! The author perfectly captures what it’s like to grow up queer and trans in a small, conservative town, including the quintessential homoerotic best friendship with your girl best friend. The switches between the past and present were done in a very satisfying way that always kept me reading the present chapters in suspense to find out what happened in the past. I love the representations of different generations of trans and queer people in this story and how they interact, such as Max and Sylvia, Max and Dakota, and Max and his students. The present-day chapters have very good reflections and insights into what his family and friends must have been going through in the past that influenced how they treated others or reacted to certain situations, such as Jules and his mom, and this understanding was very refreshing to see, even if he didn’t forgive these people for their actions. Max looks back on his childhood while acknowledging its more problematic aspects or the language that was used, but still honestly depicts what happened and what was said, which I also appreciated. Overall, I just loved the depiction of a little kid being too weird and queer for a small town that can see their queerness before they can, as that’s how I look back on my own childhood with more clarity. The characters also felt incredibly real and complicated.
The present-day chapters introduced lots of interesting commentary on young queer people trying and struggling to interact with older queer people, or queer elders who may not be up to date on newer labels for gender identities and sexualities. I liked seeing Max’s growth in accepting that queer and trans youth are kind of doing their own thing that’s different from how he grew up as a bi trans boy and that he has more to learn, as he did seem too dismissive of newer queer and trans labels for some of the book. The ending was very satisfying, and I am happy with how everything wrapped up with Sylvia and Dakota because I was incredibly nervous for them both for most of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Racism, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Self harm, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Fatphobia