ettegoom's review
3.0
This book has some great points in it and I really valued the calls to action and the descriptions of the author's experiences during his transition. I found the first two chapters grating, because of the weird use of gender markers in discussing types of transgenderism and his dismissal of male privilege. I'm wondering whether this is a product of the time, or something in the author's attitude. However, once I got past that (I nearly stopped reading, it was so bad), it became a really helpful little book.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone transitioning now, as there were some problematic things in it. But I found enough useful ideas that I still ended up with a bunch of sticky tabs in there.
I really appreciated finding a book about someone who transitioned "late", who didn't have the "traditional" trans- experience, transitioned in the same direction and feels similarly about their pre-transition life as I. That representation was incredibly valuable, as most of the stories I've read, although true for some people, were invalidating of my experience, which is really hard. It's not always black and white, this transition process, and I'm glad that there's someone else out there who doesn't have all the answers, but is happy with the decisions.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone transitioning now, as there were some problematic things in it. But I found enough useful ideas that I still ended up with a bunch of sticky tabs in there.
I really appreciated finding a book about someone who transitioned "late", who didn't have the "traditional" trans- experience, transitioned in the same direction and feels similarly about their pre-transition life as I. That representation was incredibly valuable, as most of the stories I've read, although true for some people, were invalidating of my experience, which is really hard. It's not always black and white, this transition process, and I'm glad that there's someone else out there who doesn't have all the answers, but is happy with the decisions.
choirqueer's review
3.0
I appreciated reading pieces of the author's story, as I always appreciate reading trans people's tellings of their own stories. It felt frustrating that the author overgeneralizes from his own experience to try to portray a sense of universality to "the trans narrative" which doesn't reflect reality and also served to undermine his telling of his own story.
kate_nelson's review against another edition
This book is extremely dated. There are much better books out there with trans stories.
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