julesarano 's review for:

Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition by P. Carl

5.0

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I was enthralled by P. Carl's honest fiercely honest and accessible memoir of transition. After 50 years of "living as a white Midwestern woman," P. Carl risked his wife, family, friends, and a successful career to launch a journey into accepting his true self, something most of us are too afraid to do. He opens up his life as he grapples with what it means to transition from a queer woman into a straight white man, upper-middle class man in Trump's America. He explores his experiences with gender, violence, masculinity, transphobia, race, love, politics, family, and mental and physical health. What does it mean to enjoy privileged masculine spaces? How does transitioning reconstruct ones inner experience and the experience of his closest family and friends? Is it possible to live the life you've always dreamed of? I highly recommend this book and I wish more authors took the risk of being so honest.