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A review by nicolemhewitt
Birthday by Meredith Russo
5.0
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
This book!! This book made my heart hurt and also made it incredibly happy. I have to warn you, there were tears shed. If you've ever wanted to understand how someone could feel a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth, you need to read this book. (Obviously this book can't represent every transgender person's experience, but it does a great job of portraying one person's experience.) Being inside Morgan's head makes it so clear---the struggle to fit in when you just feel wrong somehow, the fears of how others will react, the painful process of coming to terms with a reality you might not want to face at first. The book chronicles four birthdays, shared by Morgan and her best friend Eric, and it shows how Morgan and Eric's relationship transforms over those years. It's definitely a character-driven book---don't expect a fast-moving plot (the plot basically centers on events that bring Morgan closer to accepting her transition). But DO expect a heartrending portrayal of coming to terms with being transgender. One other small critique is that the romance aspect of the book all happened a little easily (it's clear from the beginning that Eric already sees Morgan as female in a lot of ways---I'm not sure how many transgender people have someone who sees them so clearly from the outset), but that's a small detail, and honestly, everyone deserves to see the possibility of a happy, easy relationship in their future.
This book is powerful and eye-opening. I think everyone should read it!
This book!! This book made my heart hurt and also made it incredibly happy. I have to warn you, there were tears shed. If you've ever wanted to understand how someone could feel a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth, you need to read this book. (Obviously this book can't represent every transgender person's experience, but it does a great job of portraying one person's experience.) Being inside Morgan's head makes it so clear---the struggle to fit in when you just feel wrong somehow, the fears of how others will react, the painful process of coming to terms with a reality you might not want to face at first. The book chronicles four birthdays, shared by Morgan and her best friend Eric, and it shows how Morgan and Eric's relationship transforms over those years. It's definitely a character-driven book---don't expect a fast-moving plot (the plot basically centers on events that bring Morgan closer to accepting her transition). But DO expect a heartrending portrayal of coming to terms with being transgender. One other small critique is that the romance aspect of the book all happened a little easily (it's clear from the beginning that Eric already sees Morgan as female in a lot of ways---I'm not sure how many transgender people have someone who sees them so clearly from the outset), but that's a small detail, and honestly, everyone deserves to see the possibility of a happy, easy relationship in their future.
This book is powerful and eye-opening. I think everyone should read it!