Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by kelly_e
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Title: Gender Queer
Author: Maia Kobabe
Genre: Graphic Memoir
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: May 28, 2019
T H R E E • W O R D S
Thoughtful • Necessary • Impactful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
💭 T H O U G H T S
The American Library Association ranked Gender Queer as the most challenged book in 2021, 2022, and 2023. It's for this reason and on recommendation from several book friends that I decided to pick it up during Banned Book Week in October 2024. As a person who's always looking to expand my understanding of the human experience, I definitely went in expecting this book to provide an educational experience.
What a honest and relatable discussion exploring gender and self-acceptance in an easily digestible format! Kudos to Maia for speaking eir truth and putting eir personal experience into words, this is a valuable book that could help other people going through similar identity journeys. I was invested in eir story and appreciated getting both the good and the bad. And I was enlightened on the concept of pronoun discomfort, something I had yet to encounter.
The illustrations bring Maia's story to life and really help tell aspects of the story that words alone could never do. It's been brought to my attention that this is also available in a full cast audio version, which I think could be equally valuable.
Gender Queer is a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual, as well as, for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to be a better ally. I learned a lot and am grateful books like this one exist and they need to continue to be widely accessible to the masses. Maia's story is one I will be recommending for years to come.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• understanding the human experience
• diverse perspectives
• graphic memoirs
⚠️ CW: body dysmorphia, body horror, body shaming, medical content, medical trauma, blood, sexual content, transphobia, homophobia, acephobia/arophobia, biphobia, deadnaming, outing, mental illness, panic attacks/disorders, misogyny, sexism, vomit, bullying, cancer, alcohol, alcoholism, excrement, incest
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Some people are born in mountains while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow!"
"I wish I didn’t fear that my identity is too political for a classroom."
Author: Maia Kobabe
Genre: Graphic Memoir
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: May 28, 2019
T H R E E • W O R D S
Thoughtful • Necessary • Impactful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
💭 T H O U G H T S
The American Library Association ranked Gender Queer as the most challenged book in 2021, 2022, and 2023. It's for this reason and on recommendation from several book friends that I decided to pick it up during Banned Book Week in October 2024. As a person who's always looking to expand my understanding of the human experience, I definitely went in expecting this book to provide an educational experience.
What a honest and relatable discussion exploring gender and self-acceptance in an easily digestible format! Kudos to Maia for speaking eir truth and putting eir personal experience into words, this is a valuable book that could help other people going through similar identity journeys. I was invested in eir story and appreciated getting both the good and the bad. And I was enlightened on the concept of pronoun discomfort, something I had yet to encounter.
The illustrations bring Maia's story to life and really help tell aspects of the story that words alone could never do. It's been brought to my attention that this is also available in a full cast audio version, which I think could be equally valuable.
Gender Queer is a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual, as well as, for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to be a better ally. I learned a lot and am grateful books like this one exist and they need to continue to be widely accessible to the masses. Maia's story is one I will be recommending for years to come.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• understanding the human experience
• diverse perspectives
• graphic memoirs
⚠️ CW: body dysmorphia, body horror, body shaming, medical content, medical trauma, blood, sexual content, transphobia, homophobia, acephobia/arophobia, biphobia, deadnaming, outing, mental illness, panic attacks/disorders, misogyny, sexism, vomit, bullying, cancer, alcohol, alcoholism, excrement, incest
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Some people are born in mountains while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow!"
"I wish I didn’t fear that my identity is too political for a classroom."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Dysphoria
Moderate: Biphobia, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Excrement, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, Outing
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Incest, Alcohol
body dysmorphia