memoirs

This is an amazing book. I've read a huge number of books and articles on the subject recently and not one of them moved me as much as this one. Between the moments when I laughed out loud, tickled by the turn of a phrase or a description of an event, my heart was wrenched and tears came to my eyes. I constantly hear the words of the transgendered person in my life through Jenny Finney Boylan's words.

Boylan tell a brave tale here, not hiding her own faults and problems. She lets us see the impact of her decisions on her friends and on her wife, Grace (a truly amazing person herself). This takes the book beyond the story of one person's transition from living as one gender to the other to a book about the human condition and how people handle life-altering challenges.

Because this book is so well-written and covers the broad aspects of a life, as well as the detailed events, it will appeal to anyone who simply wants something great to read. It's really hard to put down, but you have to now and then to catch your breath.

Jennifer Finney Boylan's book offers a look into the true story of the life of a transgendered person. In it she recounts her struggles to be male, all the while feeling inherently female in the wrong body. As a mismatched mind and body, the author gives the reader a sense of the confusion that results, that is, until the day James realizes that, he would be happier if he became a woman. From childhood through adulthood, including marriage as a man to a woman and fatherhood, Ms. Boylan takes the reader through the process of hormone therapy and surgery to become Jennifer, all the while gently and lovingly working through the bumps of taking longstanding relationships along for the ride.

Boylan presents her life story with sensitivity, warmth and humor making it a very good read. I recommend this book for its entertainment value and the opportunity it presents to educate the reader about this little known condition.

I think that I would have liked James Boylan very much - a bright, articulate, witty and decent person (by his own account, admittedly). But Jennifer Boylan cannot for the life of her present herself or her cause in any way that elicits sympathy or understanding or even good will. "She's Not There" is a congratulatory and self absorbed memoir of a man becoming a woman, believing that s/he was born a female in a male body. She never makes the case convincingly, however, despite filling almost 300 pages.

I simply do not understand what Boylan is trying to accomplish with this book. She doesn't seem to try to capture the hearts of her readers - say, by portraying the reality or the anguish of being transgendered and the absolute necessity, to her at least, of her actions. One could take this as a failure of her writing skills if she did not in the end simply shrug it all off as "a mystery". One is left then with the unpleasant conclusion that the author is an extraordinarily selfish person who loves the limelight and who is equally indifferent to the needs and desires of those who love her faithfully, and to the legitimate expectations of her readers.