CUT AND SAVE THE LINE

Nolos’ novel navigates two young people’s experiences as trans men in New York City.

In 2015, Lis Olsson is an acting major at an unnamed Manhattan college, dating a cute theater major named Tyler Thomas. The young student’s life is going smoothly, but its placid surface has some ripples lately. Lis secretly binges YouTube videos by trans men about transitioning, and when Lis meets a charismatic man at a Brooklyn drag show, it makes them realize that they’re only attached to Tyler, as “one might be to a utility knife.” Ty Wacek, the man Lis encounters at the show, is fascinating and cool; he’s had top and bottom surgery, and he lets her try on one of his old chest binders. But although he has a steady office job and appears to have his life together, Ty is perpetually anxious; he’s insecure about his small size and worries that people will trip and fall if he doesn’t always remove debris from stairs. He’s also stressed by the burdensome effort it takes to refill his testosterone prescription. The story zigzags between 2015 and 2017; in the earlier year, Lis and Ty tentatively reach for connection until their relationship derails. Two years later, Ty finds the newly transitioned Lis (now named Nat) exasperating and desperately in need of “charm school for baby trannies.” They’ve become roommates and are in the same friend group, but that only heightens the already existing discomfort. Nolos, a trans author who, like Ty, sometimes performs at Brooklyn drag shows, realistically brings to life a group of queer, artistically inclined young New Yorkers searching for identity. He portrays them as part of a small urban community—so small, in fact, that Ty, at one point, matches with Lis’ first roommate on Tinder. The two main characters are flawed in relatable ways; Lis simply avoids the too-nice Tyler instead of officially breaking up with him, and both Lis and Ty are frequently irritated by those around them. Their emotional vulnerabilities will make readers root for their success, however.

A sensitive, empathetic, sometimes humorous, and always authentic tale.