venneh 's review for:

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery

3.0

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This is one of those books that can be described as a hell of a thing. As a portrait of a person going through the combination of a transition, wrestling with the religious way he was bought up, and unknowingly, estrangement from his family for completely different reasons, this is an incredibly accurate portrayal of the headspace. As a coherent whole.... not so much. This seems to be a combination of essays about his transition, newsletter content that he repurposed, and work that’s along the lines of the more shitpostier work he did at The Toast but with a way more religous/trans bent than in the past. This feels like two separate smaller books that Lavery decided at the last minute to throw together as a single manuscript. The writing is great. I almost wonder if this could’ve waited a bit longer before coming out.