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6-10.9.2014:
To be honest, I felt like the author gathered facts and mathematical averages on trans men and put them all in one book and one character. It made for a very unorganized read, not creating an artistic whole or focusing on one central issue for the main character, but creating an "average trans man in his late teens" story, adding stuff just because it's a thing that happens to some trans people or trans men. I'm not articulating this very well, I'm sorry, but perhaps you get the point. I felt like it was politics in the form of fiction, but without respecting the rules and quality of fiction. Not that politics is bad! But it doesn't always work well in fiction.
So yes, perhaps this book was needed. But I think someone else might need it much more than I do. Perhaps someone who has just been introduced to the idea of transgender issues? And I really think it makes the case that trans people are all, or mostly, about their being trans. Yes, it can be a huge part of one's life, especially when coming out, but still.
Everything in this book felt crafted to serve a purpose, and not the purpose of entertaining a reader or creating great fiction. Art can of course be used for many things, but in my world, it should also have a value of its own.
I'm slightly torn whether to analyze this book for an essay or even my BA thesis. On one hand, it is, I think, one of the best known YA books with a trans man as the main character, and it certainly uses norms and conventions to build masculinity. On the other hand, I don't enjoy this book and I wouldn't really want to read it again.
02/15: I enjoyed this book slightly more this time around, perhaps because I did not expect much. It is a bit all over the place and I stand by my previous review but I gave it three stars.
To be honest, I felt like the author gathered facts and mathematical averages on trans men and put them all in one book and one character. It made for a very unorganized read, not creating an artistic whole or focusing on one central issue for the main character, but creating an "average trans man in his late teens" story, adding stuff just because it's a thing that happens to some trans people or trans men. I'm not articulating this very well, I'm sorry, but perhaps you get the point. I felt like it was politics in the form of fiction, but without respecting the rules and quality of fiction. Not that politics is bad! But it doesn't always work well in fiction.
So yes, perhaps this book was needed. But I think someone else might need it much more than I do. Perhaps someone who has just been introduced to the idea of transgender issues? And I really think it makes the case that trans people are all, or mostly, about their being trans. Yes, it can be a huge part of one's life, especially when coming out, but still.
Everything in this book felt crafted to serve a purpose, and not the purpose of entertaining a reader or creating great fiction. Art can of course be used for many things, but in my world, it should also have a value of its own.
I'm slightly torn whether to analyze this book for an essay or even my BA thesis. On one hand, it is, I think, one of the best known YA books with a trans man as the main character, and it certainly uses norms and conventions to build masculinity. On the other hand, I don't enjoy this book and I wouldn't really want to read it again.
02/15: I enjoyed this book slightly more this time around, perhaps because I did not expect much. It is a bit all over the place and I stand by my previous review but I gave it three stars.