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regalexander 's review for:
Parrotfish
by Ellen Wittlinger
Prior to reading 'Parrotfish', I read John Green's 'The Fault in our Stars'. In that context, it was nice to read about a teenager acting and talking like an actual teenagers. Grady can be moody, selfish, vain and think everyone is always talking about him - but deep down, he really is a good kid. I really like how the author managed to create such a realistic character. As a reader, I didn't always like him and it takes courage to use a main character who isn't always likeable.
The novel spans about a month in Grady's life and I felt it was ended at the right point, which is an art in itself. There were several original and/or fun backstories going on - for example, Eve and Grady having been homeschooled by their moms for most of their lives, and the impact of going to a public high school on their friendship. Then there's Grady's dad's obsession with the Christmas decorations, and his Jewish mum bearing it all those years, and how no family member has the heart to tell him they don't actually enjoy the excessiveness that much.
The novel is flawed, though. I think I'd have been more awed reading this at age 14 or so - target audience. I would've been less critical, I think. For starters, I wish we'd read more about the other characters. I understand Grady Katz-McNair is the main character and narrator, but Sebastian Shipley was just brilliant, and I liked Eve well enough. I wasn't too keen on Russ and Kita, and I don't believe Kita would react to a real-life Grady that way.
I wasn't that happy about Ms Unger's part in the events either. She sounded very much like what kids want a cool teacher to be like and how they'd like a teacher to react - but as a nearly graduated teacher I can safely say it just doesn't happen that way. A real teacher would never do what Ms Unger did.
What also bothered me was how quite a few times the author would mention Grady 'choosing to be a boy' and 'changing gender' or using terms like 'I'm a boy now'. He's always been a boy, he didn't change gender but wants to change his sex. It's delicate terminology, and I wished the author had kept it in mind more as it's the central point of this story - that it's not a choice, that he's always been that way inside.
All in all, it's certainly a book I'd recommend to teenagers. In all honesty, I think I'd recommend this book because of the lack of competition of books handling this specific subject - a female-to-male teenager in high school living his life as best as he can. I think the book certainly benefits from that, as most YA books dealing with transgender characters are either about male-to-female teenagers, or about a main character who knows someone who is transgender, and how hard it is for the main character to deal with their transgender friend.
The novel spans about a month in Grady's life and I felt it was ended at the right point, which is an art in itself. There were several original and/or fun backstories going on - for example, Eve and Grady having been homeschooled by their moms for most of their lives, and the impact of going to a public high school on their friendship. Then there's Grady's dad's obsession with the Christmas decorations, and his Jewish mum bearing it all those years, and how no family member has the heart to tell him they don't actually enjoy the excessiveness that much.
The novel is flawed, though. I think I'd have been more awed reading this at age 14 or so - target audience. I would've been less critical, I think. For starters, I wish we'd read more about the other characters. I understand Grady Katz-McNair is the main character and narrator, but Sebastian Shipley was just brilliant, and I liked Eve well enough. I wasn't too keen on Russ and Kita, and I don't believe Kita would react to a real-life Grady that way.
I wasn't that happy about Ms Unger's part in the events either. She sounded very much like what kids want a cool teacher to be like and how they'd like a teacher to react - but as a nearly graduated teacher I can safely say it just doesn't happen that way. A real teacher would never do what Ms Unger did.
What also bothered me was how quite a few times the author would mention Grady 'choosing to be a boy' and 'changing gender' or using terms like 'I'm a boy now'. He's always been a boy, he didn't change gender but wants to change his sex. It's delicate terminology, and I wished the author had kept it in mind more as it's the central point of this story - that it's not a choice, that he's always been that way inside.
All in all, it's certainly a book I'd recommend to teenagers. In all honesty, I think I'd recommend this book because of the lack of competition of books handling this specific subject - a female-to-male teenager in high school living his life as best as he can. I think the book certainly benefits from that, as most YA books dealing with transgender characters are either about male-to-female teenagers, or about a main character who knows someone who is transgender, and how hard it is for the main character to deal with their transgender friend.