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freddybingsu's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Physical abuse
that_bookworm_guy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5*
SPOILERS BELOW
I apprecaite the authors note at the front to say that no two people have the same gender expression and that she wouldn't dream of telling 'the' transgender story, but can tell 'a' transgender story
For a heads up, like I do with all books with a trans character or themes, I just want to let people know that I am trans, and this is my view as a trans person
This feels very much like it's written for cis people (people who aren't trans) just by the way the story is told. I like stories told in verse, but at points this felt very choppy
The story of Brendan felt very 2 dimensional and also slightly stereotypical. There are some stuff in the story that I just wasn't surprised to read because it happens on a lot of 'coming out' trans stories. Some of it felt like the author was going for shock value tbh
Angel is such an interesting character, but she fell into a lot of stereotypes and also didn't really seem to be fleshed out too much, the author had a lot of chances to really bring the character to life and show different sides to being trans and living
Vanessa also seemed quite a flat character, and quite annoying. She literally ditches her friends for her relationship, I would have loved to have seen some really strong female friendship in this book, instead of the friends fighting and arguing
This could just be because of the age range and maybe the time it was published. But on top of that, there was also ableist comments especially towards mental health. Brendan's girlfriend compared his mood as 'not being total schizo' and Brendan questioned if his gender struggles and feeling comfortable as his female games character was something to do with schizophrenia. This mental illness is already surrounded by stigma, and comments like this did nothing but make me go 'wtf' towards the author
There is also discussion around how Angel passes really well as a cis female, yet Brendan 'guesses' correctly that she is trans. There are also a comment about when someone 'clocks' that she is trans on public transport. These ideas just contradict each other
Throughout the book, Brendan does research and comes up with the term 'transsexual' and later with the term 'transgender'. But he doesn't feel like it quite fits him. Yet towards the end of the book Angel tells him that he is genderqueer, and then later gender fluid. The way that she tells him this seems really off. She is involved in a centre for LGBTQ+ youth and her telling him what he is and how he identifies seems really off. She doesn't even offer the term to him like 'have you tried researching identities outside of the binary, maybe genderqueer or gender fluid?'
This could have been a great moment to talk about the identities, especially as Brendan thinks he may be a trans woman, but doesn't feel right because he doesn't feel like he fits into very stereotypical 'feminine' things, like being feminine has nothing to do with being a woman. There are cis and trans women who aren't feminine at all, the same way there are cis and trans men who aren't masacline
The ending just felt very rushed, it wasn't particularly happy, like the story on focused on the struggles. There was no more discussion on how Brendan identified, nothing about pronouns (hence I'm using he/him like in the book), and it ended with Brendan wanting to talk to a counsellor, almost like he wants them to decide how he should identify
There are some bits in this book that did really hit me as a trans person and sections that I could relate to. I feel like it could be a good book for people to read, but considering that character identifies as gender fluid etc, it didn't really explore that. This felt like a book very much about the struggles and pain of being trans, while showing very very little of trans joy. Again, this book just feels like it's written for cis people and concentrates very much on the pain, like it's going for the hard hitting shock factor, rather than being a good book about a trans character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape and Murder
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