A review by grey_jayne
Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

challenging reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I have a lot of respect for Jeanette Winterson, from studying Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit in college.  She has no business writing a trans character, however, when the experience is so cissexist and transphobic, including having the trans man say that they're mostly male, but anatomically female, and who is (Content Warning/Trigger Warning) r*ped 3/4 of the way into the book and then that is not mentioned, discussed, thought about, has no bearing on the plot either, all while Fran-Kiss-Stein is supposedly a love story. Cis women writing trans characters like this? It's not okay.  And I listened to the audiobook, where this character is voiced by John Sackville, a cis man. Go read a trans author instead for this kind of content, I'm serious.  

(As a quick related side note regarding the audiobook, I have to mention that the American accents John Sackville puts on are horrendous. Cringe in a whole different way.)

The Mary Shelley parts were awesome however! And Perdita Weeks on the audiobook, phenomenal. The rest is a trans story through a painfully cis lens and is so not worth it.  Trans voices by trans voices, please. I thought we knew this by 2019, but maybe that's just me being hopeful.
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