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valhecka 's review for:
Something That May Shock and Discredit You
by Daniel M. Lavery
1) I feel like I need an English degree.
2) Transnesses are not the same.
3) Religion, question mark, Christianity, interrobang.
4) As an essay collection making up a nonlinear memoir, the main thing I came away with was a sense of a very eloquent shrug, accompanied by a thoroughly cited "Only speaking for myself, of course." Which is - of course. I don't know if the kind of transition memoir Lavery says he DIDN'T want to write, full of sea allegories, actually exists, and hypervisibility is nearly as misleading as invisibility when it comes to the representation of marginal experiences. It's reductive to read Something That May Shock and think one understands the narrative of transition; Lavery is talking about HIS and his alone, with occasional reference to trans friends, mainly in the context of am-I-doing-this-right anxiety (which, by the way, is extremely relatable). It's going to be cool when we/I reach the point where a double handful of personal narratives in trans-space doesn't define the bauplan for The Trans Experience. (I'm nonbinary, for instance; my cohort isn't in mainstream awareness except as curiosities, hyperbole, and the occasional atavistic outburst about grammar.)
5) I love the interludes. Dirtbag Sappho and Lord Byron are my favorites.
2) Transnesses are not the same.
3) Religion, question mark, Christianity, interrobang.
4) As an essay collection making up a nonlinear memoir, the main thing I came away with was a sense of a very eloquent shrug, accompanied by a thoroughly cited "Only speaking for myself, of course." Which is - of course. I don't know if the kind of transition memoir Lavery says he DIDN'T want to write, full of sea allegories, actually exists, and hypervisibility is nearly as misleading as invisibility when it comes to the representation of marginal experiences. It's reductive to read Something That May Shock and think one understands the narrative of transition; Lavery is talking about HIS and his alone, with occasional reference to trans friends, mainly in the context of am-I-doing-this-right anxiety (which, by the way, is extremely relatable). It's going to be cool when we/I reach the point where a double handful of personal narratives in trans-space doesn't define the bauplan for The Trans Experience. (I'm nonbinary, for instance; my cohort isn't in mainstream awareness except as curiosities, hyperbole, and the occasional atavistic outburst about grammar.)
5) I love the interludes. Dirtbag Sappho and Lord Byron are my favorites.