She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
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Book Reviews of She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders
Book Review: She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders
Summary: 5 Stars
Ordered this book to learn more about transgenderism. Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote from here personal experiences in a clear, yet entertaining manner giving me insight into this growing phenomenon.Book Review: Support for Transgenders
Summary: 5 Stars
This story of a transgender trying to get by in today's world is captivating and makes a great case study.
Book Review: Oh Yes She Is
Summary: 4 Stars
A more apt title for this book would have been "He's Not There", since it is about a man who always felt that he was a female. But then Jim/Jenny was in a band that played the eponymous song and there wasn't a song that conveyed a male not being there. Nevertheless, the memoir was very open and candid.
Boylan struggled with her unnamed medical condition since being a toddler. He prayed that love would free him, and felt that it had when at last he met the love of his life, Grace. But alas, love doesn't conquer all, and Boylan realized the transformation would have to take place. James became Jenny. It was heartening to read of a transsexual person who was treated with so much respect and dignity. While it wasn't easy for many people, including his rock of a wife, and best friend, novelist Richard Russo, most people turned out to support her and to understand the necessity of her change. Even her children seemed to have been completely well adjusted to her transformation.
Boyle struggled with her inability to explain why she felt the way she did, and I hope she knows that people who are involved with transgendered people struggle with their inability to understand those feelings. Ultimately, I think, it isn't understandable or explainable, but that we just have to respect people's right to live their lives to the best of their abilities in ways that make them feel fulfilled. I'm glad she was able to do that in the environment in which she did.
Her obsession with her gender prompted many of her friends to ask her to talk about something else, and she felt a need to keep her sense of humor. Afterall, she is a writer of humorous novels. Out of nowhere, she inserted a letter written to NASA asking to be the first transgendered person to go into space. It was a bad move, and kept me from giving the book five stars. Her humor came out loud and clear in her writing and storytelling.
Book Review: The Courage to Change into One's True Self
Summary: 4 Stars
This incredible narrative is a profile in moral courage, revealing a psychological odyssey across four decades. Colby professor James Boylan gradually emerges as Jennifer---the woman he always knew was trapped inside a male body. As an author Boylan was both literate and successful, happily married and the father of two young boys. This journey of transformation to release his secret, feminine self is presented with humor, pathos and heart-wrenching honesty. Readers cannot but be touched by this desperate cry for acceptance in her new role-- with the sacrifice and perils of gradual, as well as sudden, femininity.
Related in deliberately unchronological order, this intriguing narrative challenges readers' flexibility--skipping from Boylan's past to the present via seemingly unrelated flashbacks: a temporal roller coaster. Anecdotes range from outrageous incidents to excruciating emotional cruelty, but all are woven into the fabric of full disclosure with intentionality. Obviously her transformation into womanhood did not occur in a social vacuum, for her astonishing decision impacted many lives: her devoted wife, her accepting sons (from Daddy to Maddy), and her acceptance by the Colby faculty--most notably by her colleague and best buddy. Readers commiserates with the faithful wife who could only watch the gradual disappearance of her adored husband. This book, a must for any course on Gender Studies, emerges as an honest mirror into the soul of a tortured man, who became a proud woman ultimately at peace with herself. Her story challenges contemporary society, its views on gender and the individual's right to change--to achieve full emoitonal potential.
Book Review: Left me feeling sad
Summary: 4 Stars
I give this book 4 stars because of it's easy readability and interesting(!) subject matter.A book to cetainly make one wonder and have sympathy for what some humans must suffer through. I liked the writing style (I know some readers/reviewers have not).
But the story to me is just so sad. I finished reading this a couple of weeks ago and wanted to see if my feelings "settled" a bit but they have not. I was not convinced by the end of the book that Jenny had found the peace she was searching for by changing genders. I don't know why but I "liked" the author better in the beginning when she was still James. I guess I bonded with him as a he. After the gender reassignment surgery I just wasn't "convinced" of Jenny's femaleness. Wearing skirts, long hair and diet cokes have nothing to do with femininity in my opinion.Kind of pathetic attempts actually. I realize some of that was his-into-her way of outwardly showing society who she "really" was/is. And I think some of it was dry humor, but I didn't laugh. I thought in the end it was pretty crummy what he/she did to his/her family/loved ones. I certainly wish Jenny peace and happiness but the book and story left me feeling sad and wondering if she's not "there" where in the world is she....now. Is she "there" now? And is her inner world so much different/better to her now as a woman?