BETWEEN PERFECT AND REAL

Being cast as Romeo in the school play helps Dean realize he’s transgender.

Now he needs to decide what to do about it. Dean lives in Seattle and has a loving girlfriend, Zoe, and a vivacious best friend, Ronnie. The three have big plans for college in New York City, but first they have one more year of high school. As a senior, Dean finally has a chance at a lead role, and, to his delight and astonishment, he’ll get to play Romeo. As far as everyone knows, Dean is a tomboy lesbian, but he comes to realize that he’s actually a transgender boy. The plot is arranged into five roughly Shakespearean acts, following Dean’s process of self-realization, coming out, facing transphobic bullying, and redefining his relationship with Zoe. The characters ponder a variety of queer-related topics, such as the intersection of race and sexuality (Ronnie is Black and gay; Dean and Zoe are White), toxic masculinity, and the transition of a romantic partner. In a rare and refreshing move, the author altogether avoids revealing Dean’s given name—Dean is a shortened version Ronnie came up with years earlier—and does not narratively humiliate or exploit him. Not settling for pat, one-dimensional explanations, the story is honest about the uncertainty, self-consciousness, confusion, and fear that can accompany transition while being validating and supportive of its trans protagonist.

An authentic and optimistic trans coming-out story.