Publisher's Weekly Review
This gracious and informative gender primer from Durand (Parenthesis) invites readers along on a parent's learning curve. Based on interviews with a real family and styled as a graphic narrative, the story focuses on Anne, the mother of a 19-year-old trans man named Alex. To Alex's revelation that he's a boy, Anne initially responds, "Did something bad happen to you?" Given that Anne is a professor of animal biology, her shock at the existence of gender-fluidity in her own species seems rather naive. A family therapist notes, "You fear that Alex will be marginalized, but the first and foremost marginalization is family rejection." The tense relationship between mother and son turns when Alex's friend attempts suicide, spurring Anne to commit to her "own transition." She dives into research on gender identity and reminds herself to "call him Alex, at least some of the time." With time, naming Alex becomes easy; hearing reports of anti-trans hate crimes never does. The main narrative is drawn in simple black-and-white lines, with the exception of Anne's shock of pink hair. Colorfully drawn flashbacks depict Alex's early childhood, and abstracted interstitial drawings showcase diverse bodies. Trans-savvy readers may find aspects of the story remedial or problematic (i.e., centering an initially transphobic cis woman). But for parents who relate to Anne--and are open to education against bias--Durand builds a sturdy bridge to acceptance brick by brick. (Nov.)
Booklist Review
The names here are fictional, Durand writes in her opening author's note. The story may lie "between fiction and reality," but it's inspired by three years Durand spent with not-her-real-name Anne Marbot. On January 21, 2017, Anne's 19-year-old child announced, "I am a boy." Anne, a French university researcher specializing in biology, named her first child "Lucie" at birth, but "news of this gender change hit [her] like a tidal wave . . . sweeping away the comfort of [her] tidy little life." While Alex commences his journey to be himself, Anne, too, begins her own process from resistance to acceptance. Durand presents the raw, aching spectrum of Anne's experiences as a hybrid journal of personal reflections, historical elucidations, and scientific evidence. Her crisp line drawings tend toward spareness, as does her use of mostly solid colors as simple enhancements; she reserves the technicolor bursts for the most important revelations. Durand intersperses images of Anne's head in various stages of sinking into, rising from, and disappearing below an unspecified surface, as if indicating her progress (or not) toward understanding. Unidentified (and unidentifiable) bodies, often unclothed, float freely through the pages, in various hues and poses--brilliant visual reminders as to the fluidity of human identities. Real-life Alex's real-life letter to his mother near the book's end is a spectacular coda, further underscored by translator McGorray's own reveal as trans and nonbinary.