Scan barcode
A review by leafblade
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
4.0
Every time someone asks me about this book I say the same thing but I'm genuinely so excited for enby readers. This is the first ownvoices enby book published by one of the US' big five publishers, and that means a whole lot. It's a privilege to live in a time where this can happen, and I'm so glad enby readers can have this kind of representation and support.
I wish you all the best was a fantastic debut. The characters were well rounded, and the online friendship present was very well done, which is something that doesn't happen often. Too many times we've seen authors that don't really have an online presence try to explain what long distance friendships are like and fail, but Mason got that absolutely right. This is the first book I've read with internet friends meeting irl after I've met my internet friends irl and that has nothing to do with this review but I just wanted to put that out there lol
Though the story has some inherent enbyphobia (Ben is kicked out of their house by their parents when they come out as nonbinary), Mason did a fantastic job creating a supportive environment. Sometimes the easy way out is making it all about the cis characters reacting to the trans one coming out, but they drew the line there. It was enlightening to see how Ben's parents reacted vs how everyone else did, because it made me see the difference in acknowledging your (cis) feelings and feeling bad for misgendering a trans person, and fucking it up. Nathan's reaction TEARED ME APART what a good boy, honestly.
Speaking of Nathan, I've been having trouble with thinking about (original) characters whose marginalizations I don't share. Like, it's a part of their lives but I don't feel like it's my place to talk about those issues. And Mason WINGED IT with Nathan. He's black (or biracial?), and even though racism is not discussed, it's not glossed over. It's not Mason's place to talk about these issues and they acknowledged it and didn't touch the topic, period. This while managing to treat Nathan in a respectful way (same w Meleika and Sophie, but they're minor characters).
I ABSOLUTELY ADORED TO AN EXTENT I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE the natural diversity in this book. There were POC and queer and mentally ill characters all around. And it didn't feel forced, it didn't feel like they wanted diversity points, it didn't interfere with the story at all. I wish I can write like that sometime. Pansexuality was mentioned in passing, like, twice and my wig flew out the window like... THEY DID THAT!!! There is a queer therapy group and they take the time to write a paragraph about the members and the intersectionality you can see in that one paragraph made me want to read a book about those characters. Mason I'm BEGGING you
The gendered language talk sprinkled in the book was so relevant??? Like, misgendering is not just about pronouns. You can call someone they/them but if you use gendered words they're not comfortable with YOU'RE STILL MISGENDERING THEM. And Mason made that point VERY clear. Also the rawness in "well, then maybe you understand how it isn't a fucking joke?" is so out of the court I want it tattooed on my forehead. I deal with queerphobic parents and Ben dealing with theirs made me cheer for them ten thousand times more. Cut those bitches off my darling you deserve it!!!!!
I'm so glad I won this book in a giveaway and I'm so glad I have it in my hands because it's literally a piece of queer history and I'll cherish it forever.
I wish you all the best was a fantastic debut. The characters were well rounded, and the online friendship present was very well done, which is something that doesn't happen often. Too many times we've seen authors that don't really have an online presence try to explain what long distance friendships are like and fail, but Mason got that absolutely right. This is the first book I've read with internet friends meeting irl after I've met my internet friends irl and that has nothing to do with this review but I just wanted to put that out there lol
Though the story has some inherent enbyphobia (Ben is kicked out of their house by their parents when they come out as nonbinary), Mason did a fantastic job creating a supportive environment. Sometimes the easy way out is making it all about the cis characters reacting to the trans one coming out, but they drew the line there. It was enlightening to see how Ben's parents reacted vs how everyone else did, because it made me see the difference in acknowledging your (cis) feelings and feeling bad for misgendering a trans person, and fucking it up. Nathan's reaction TEARED ME APART what a good boy, honestly.
Speaking of Nathan, I've been having trouble with thinking about (original) characters whose marginalizations I don't share. Like, it's a part of their lives but I don't feel like it's my place to talk about those issues. And Mason WINGED IT with Nathan. He's black (or biracial?), and even though racism is not discussed, it's not glossed over. It's not Mason's place to talk about these issues and they acknowledged it and didn't touch the topic, period. This while managing to treat Nathan in a respectful way (same w Meleika and Sophie, but they're minor characters).
I ABSOLUTELY ADORED TO AN EXTENT I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE the natural diversity in this book. There were POC and queer and mentally ill characters all around. And it didn't feel forced, it didn't feel like they wanted diversity points, it didn't interfere with the story at all. I wish I can write like that sometime. Pansexuality was mentioned in passing, like, twice and my wig flew out the window like... THEY DID THAT!!! There is a queer therapy group and they take the time to write a paragraph about the members and the intersectionality you can see in that one paragraph made me want to read a book about those characters. Mason I'm BEGGING you
The gendered language talk sprinkled in the book was so relevant??? Like, misgendering is not just about pronouns. You can call someone they/them but if you use gendered words they're not comfortable with YOU'RE STILL MISGENDERING THEM. And Mason made that point VERY clear. Also the rawness in "well, then maybe you understand how it isn't a fucking joke?" is so out of the court I want it tattooed on my forehead. I deal with queerphobic parents and Ben dealing with theirs made me cheer for them ten thousand times more. Cut those bitches off my darling you deserve it!!!!!
I'm so glad I won this book in a giveaway and I'm so glad I have it in my hands because it's literally a piece of queer history and I'll cherish it forever.