A review by emeelee
Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky

4.0

Could I be trans? Could that be what the whole Sasha Masha thing was about? The thought seemed ridiculous at first. That wasn't a word I'd ever thought about applying to myself. I was a boy--a clumsy, pudgy, soft-spoken boy. A boy who smiled and everyone liked. But something was wrong. There was a high wall inside of me and it made me angry, it made me stuck. There was a self on the other side. Was this now the thing I'd failed to see: that in my heart of hearts I wasn't a boy after all?

Sasha Masha is the #ownvoices story of an AMAB teenager questioning his identity. When Alex's best friend moves away, he is in need of a new social circle which prompts him to examine who he is. He finds a community in a queer teen group where he introduces himself as Sasha Masha. The name feels right, but he's not totally sure why yet. Meanwhile he's dealing with a girlfriend frustrated by his secretiveness and parents who don't see him as anything other than a heterosexual boy.

This is a very short, character-driven story-- the audiobook is only 3 hours long (and read wonderfully by the author). Sasha Masha's thought processes and identity crisis felt relatable and genuine, and I loved the Questioning rep. So often books with trans and nonbinary characters feature characters that already know their gender identity and their story is more focused on coming out or being out, rather than figuring it out. Those stories are important, but so is Sasha Masha's. By the end of the book, he hasn't definitively claimed the term "transgender" or changed his pronouns, but he's settling into the idea that he might not be a boy and that exploring other options is okay. I found it to be very heartfelt and refreshing. 3.5 stars

TW: brief scene of transmisia, slurs d*ke and f****t used by queer folk

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this eARC via Edelweiss and ALC via Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review!