Readers willing to share Allison’s evident pain and humiliation may gain insight into a troubling disorder, but it’s the joy...
Can a girl fall off a cliff in s-l-o-w motion? That’s how Allison’s life seems to plummet during her sophomore year of high school in this fine debut memoir.
After awakening from a terrible dream, Allison is abruptly afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder—although she doesn’t truly understand the reason that she’s suddenly associating commonplace objects and activities with brain cancer. First she has to avoid cracks in floors, but this rapidly devolves into restrictions on every aspect of her life—controlling her behavior, relationships, eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene, and completely derailing her ability to do well in school. Within weeks, she goes from being an excellent student positioned socially on the fringe of the popular group to a pariah who may fail her classes. That her obvious distress flies under the radar of her parents and teachers for so long is especially distressing. After her parents finally do intervene, she begins seeing a specialist whose treatment, combined with Allison’s brave determination, makes all the difference. Depicted with affecting honesty (and including quite a lot of dialogue), Allison’s journey is at once gripping and agonizing. Allison is white; her trials are a universal experience.
Readers willing to share Allison’s evident pain and humiliation may gain insight into a troubling disorder, but it’s the joy of her slow recovery that they’ll savor. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8918-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author.
Deaf, trans artist Man meditates on his journey and identity in this brief memoir.
Growing up in conservative central Pennsylvania was tough for the 21-year-old Deaf, genderqueer, pansexual, and biracial (Chinese/White Jewish) author. He describes his gender and sexual identity, his experiences of racism and ableism, and his desire to use his visibility as a YouTube personality, model, and actor to help other young people like him. He is open and vulnerable throughout, even choosing to reveal his birth name. Man shares his experiences of becoming deaf as a small child and at times feeling ostracized from the Deaf community but not how he arrived at his current Deaf identity. His description of his gender-identity development occasionally slips into a well-worn pink-and-blue binary. The text is accompanied and transcended by the author’s own intriguing, expressionistic line drawings. However, Man ultimately falls short of truly insightful reflection or analysis, offering a mostly surface-level account of his life that will likely not be compelling to readers who are not already fans. While his visibility and success as someone whose life represents multiple marginalized identities are valuable in themselves, this heartfelt personal chronicle would have benefited from deeper introspection.
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-22348-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future.
An adaptation for teens of the adult title A Queer History of the United States (2011).
Divided into thematic sections, the text filters LGBTQIA+ history through key figures in each era from the 1500s to the present. Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D.J. Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a few. Throughout, the author and adapter take care to use accurate pronouns and avoid imposing contemporary terminology onto historical figures. In some cases, they quote primary sources to speculate about same-sex relationships while also reminding readers of past cultural differences in expressing strong affection between friends. Black-and-white illustrations or photos augment each chapter. Though it lacks the teen appeal and personable, conversational style of Sarah Prager’s Queer, There, and Everywhere (2017), this textbook-level survey contains a surprising amount of depth. However, the mention of transgender movements and activism—in particular, contemporary issues—runs on the slim side. Whereas chapters are devoted to over 30 ethnically diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer figures, some trans pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen and Holly Woodlawn are reduced to short sidebars.
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future. (glossary, photo credits, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5612-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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