A review by reading_between_the_trees
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

emotional funny informative inspiring sad fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Awesome nonbinary representation, amazing normalizing of therapy and medication, and incredible characters and plot. This book captured so many realities for nonbinary people: the fear, emotional exhaustion, and repetition of coming out, the constant pain of misgendering / the burden of having to constantly correct people, the fuzzy gender dysphoria that get's tangled up in sexual attraction and desire for intimacy, the suppression of the ways you really want to express yourself, the difficulty in navigating relationships especially with your family, the way shame and loneliness and pain can mix with mental illness to create the perfect storm, and so so many more things. Deaver explores all of these issues with such nuance, really bringing us into Benji's world and highlighting just how unique the nonbinary experience is for each person. Benji's story focuses on a great support system, art, medication, and online communities, but it also highlights other resources for LGBTQIA+ people such as support groups and LGBTQIA+ educational organizations. The entire story is full of so many golden affirmations, such as it is your decision, and you can come out to as many or few people as you want to in your own time, and if people cannot accept you for who you are, then they do not deserve your love or your mental energy. This is one of those books that not only changed my life, but just makes me happy because I am so glad it is out in the world for nonbinary people to read and see themselves in. Of course, it is not representative of THE nonbinary experience, because such a singular entity doesn't exist, but it is one of many stories that needed to be told.
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