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Janet Mock: Redefining realness (2014, Atria Books) 4 stars

Review of 'Redefining realness' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Such a poignant, sometimes raw story walking us through her journey to present as herself. I was quite moved.

Her writing was largely light and breezy, even when discussing the parts of her life that were terribly dark, and she wrote it with compassion and understanding for her younger self, which was lovely. There were parts that were jarring, because she would interject with ideas about how to better handle a specific situation, offering advice to parents of or actual trans individuals who might be reading the book. The advice was largely in a different voice, probably the one she uses for advocacy, and so it generally took me away from the narrative. That being said, I do feel like the advice was important as a way to show that she doesn't advocate other people follow her sometimes dangerous path.

I loved her message of complete acceptance of trans people, and rejection of the focus on passing as cis.