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elizabethvail54

AnimeJune's Obsessions

I love books, I love book blogging, and I hate GoodReads. Check out my blog at http://gossamerobsessions.blogspot.ca.

Currently reading

The Goblin Emperor
Katherine Addison

"Beautiful Music for Ugly Children," by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children - Kirstin Cronn-Mills

The Plot: Gabe's having a hard time - he's ignored at school, he might be in love with his best friend Paige, and his family doesn't know how to talk to him anymore. You know, ever since he came out to them as Gabe, a boy, when they've spent the last 18 years of his life thinking he's Liz, a girl. Yeah. Being a trans teen is tough. He still goes by Liz when he's in public, but he dreams of being able to move out of his small town and start over where no one will ever know him as anything but Gabe.

 

Thankfully, Gabe has a volunteer radio show every week where he gets to play all his favourite music and actually be himself, without judgement or harassment. Unfortunately, when a schoolmate outs him as trans and a couple of bigots take violent exception to his gender identity, Gabe has to learn to be more assertive about who he is.

 

The Good:

  • The sheer number of musical name-drops. Gabe knows his music.
  • Gabe's elderly DJ mentor, John is the BALLS. 
  • Every time Gabe mentions his "imaginary penis"
  • Every time Gabe mentions his Mango (his prosthetic, less-imaginary penis.

The Bad:

  • Paige is a bit of a flake.
  • There's a hint of a romance with a classmate named Heather that's not really developed, and it could have been.
  • The two violent transphobes are just such glaringly obvious villains. It's hard to take them seriously.