A review by shannen_m
Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin
1.0
TW// rape, and also spoilers below. Mind yourselves.
I want to preface by saying that a lot of the things about this book that I hated come down to preference. I prefer likable characters, I prefer a little purple in my prose, I prefer narrative justice over gritty realism. I wanted to like Golden Boy, as it's the only book aside from the Pantomime trilogy by Laura Lam, that I've read that includes an intersex character. A while back I read some stats about intersexuality that surprised me re: how common it is, in the scheme of things. It's estimated that approaching 2% of the population falls under the intersex umbrella, which sounds small until you realise that another group of people exist at the same percentage: red heads. And we all know red heads get a fair old chunk of rep in YA fiction.
Unfortunately, I hated Golden Boy. I found the characters flat, with little going on except their problems, and at worst extremely unsympathetic, like Karen. I loathed Karen. Even Max, the protagonist, seemed to only have three traits; intersex, likes football and girls, is non confrontational. Especially considering that it was first person narration, it's strange that I wasn't able to build any attachment to him or the other characters.
The rape scene was extremely graphic, and honestly I felt criminally voyeuristic reading it. Especially with first person, I think when you handle that kind of material you need to be careful of not making the reading complicit in the violation. I couldn't stop thinking about how an assault survivor would feel reading it, and I can't imagine it being anything but traumatic. Had it only been the rape scene, and the rest of the book been about Max healing/coming to understand himself/learning to fight for his own autonomy and personhood, I think I could have grown to like it, despite the bumpy beginning. And I kept reading, hoping it would get better, but it didn't. The main problem with this book for me is that it's a trauma parade. One thing after another, put the stick down that horse is extremely dead. Karen's actions re: the termination border on criminal, and I found the idea that Max was "learning" to see things from her point of view and forgive her repulsive. And the attempted suicide? I didn't even know how to begin to feel about it. There was no catharsis, and no resolution, at least in my reading of it.
I hope other people - including intersex people - who read this found it more constructive than I did, but I feel like I've been left dangling. I've looked around and haven't seen any indication that Golden Boy is own voices, and it makes the whole thing even more uncomfortable. Again, I hope the people that got something out of this book did so unscathed, but damn, it was not for me.
I want to preface by saying that a lot of the things about this book that I hated come down to preference. I prefer likable characters, I prefer a little purple in my prose, I prefer narrative justice over gritty realism. I wanted to like Golden Boy, as it's the only book aside from the Pantomime trilogy by Laura Lam, that I've read that includes an intersex character. A while back I read some stats about intersexuality that surprised me re: how common it is, in the scheme of things. It's estimated that approaching 2% of the population falls under the intersex umbrella, which sounds small until you realise that another group of people exist at the same percentage: red heads. And we all know red heads get a fair old chunk of rep in YA fiction.
Unfortunately, I hated Golden Boy. I found the characters flat, with little going on except their problems, and at worst extremely unsympathetic, like Karen. I loathed Karen. Even Max, the protagonist, seemed to only have three traits; intersex, likes football and girls, is non confrontational. Especially considering that it was first person narration, it's strange that I wasn't able to build any attachment to him or the other characters.
The rape scene was extremely graphic, and honestly I felt criminally voyeuristic reading it. Especially with first person, I think when you handle that kind of material you need to be careful of not making the reading complicit in the violation. I couldn't stop thinking about how an assault survivor would feel reading it, and I can't imagine it being anything but traumatic. Had it only been the rape scene, and the rest of the book been about Max healing/coming to understand himself/learning to fight for his own autonomy and personhood, I think I could have grown to like it, despite the bumpy beginning. And I kept reading, hoping it would get better, but it didn't. The main problem with this book for me is that it's a trauma parade. One thing after another, put the stick down that horse is extremely dead. Karen's actions re: the termination border on criminal, and I found the idea that Max was "learning" to see things from her point of view and forgive her repulsive. And the attempted suicide? I didn't even know how to begin to feel about it. There was no catharsis, and no resolution, at least in my reading of it.
I hope other people - including intersex people - who read this found it more constructive than I did, but I feel like I've been left dangling. I've looked around and haven't seen any indication that Golden Boy is own voices, and it makes the whole thing even more uncomfortable. Again, I hope the people that got something out of this book did so unscathed, but damn, it was not for me.