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A review by clarabooksit
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Kobabe’s story of living with body and gender dysphoria and eir slow, often confusing journey to self-discovery is moving and important. So many people, especially younger folks, are going to benefit from seeing themselves and/or their friends/family in this book. For that alone, I think everyone should read this.
I will say, though, that I’m not sure who the intended audience is for this book. The art style and voice read very, very young but some of the content is very adult—nothing too explicit but there are frank, open discussions of sex and sexuality as well as some nudity. So, I’m going with teenagers? Maybe?
Aside from that, I enjoyed this graphic memoir. Kobabe’s humor, frankness, vulnerability and early 2000s nostalgia are spot on. I especially loved eir discussions with friends and family about gender and sexuality. It was also nice to see eir confusion. So many identity stories are about people struggling to get others to accept who they know they are but there are so few stories of people not really knowing who they are. I appreciated Kobabe’s uncertainty and how difficult it was for em to figure it all out.
I also liked the clean, easy-to-read art style. I do wish it had read more adult and I thought the narrative often felt pieced together, which didn’t flow well.
Overall, though, I’m really glad I read this. And I think you should, too.
I will say, though, that I’m not sure who the intended audience is for this book. The art style and voice read very, very young but some of the content is very adult—nothing too explicit but there are frank, open discussions of sex and sexuality as well as some nudity. So, I’m going with teenagers? Maybe?
Aside from that, I enjoyed this graphic memoir. Kobabe’s humor, frankness, vulnerability and early 2000s nostalgia are spot on. I especially loved eir discussions with friends and family about gender and sexuality. It was also nice to see eir confusion. So many identity stories are about people struggling to get others to accept who they know they are but there are so few stories of people not really knowing who they are. I appreciated Kobabe’s uncertainty and how difficult it was for em to figure it all out.
I also liked the clean, easy-to-read art style. I do wish it had read more adult and I thought the narrative often felt pieced together, which didn’t flow well.
Overall, though, I’m really glad I read this. And I think you should, too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Sexism