JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Trans Like Me by CN Lester

What does it mean to be transgender? How do we discuss the subject? In this eye-opening book, CN Lester, academic and activist, takes us on a journey through some of the most pressing issues concerning the trans debate: from pronouns to Caitlyn Jenner; from feminist and LGBTQ activists, to the rise in referrals for gender variant children – all by way of insightful and moving passages about the author’s own experience.

Trans Like Me shows us how to strive for authenticity in a world which often seeks to limit us by way of labels.

Trans Like Me breaks down the stereotypes and misconceptions about trans people. It sheds light on society’s incorrect terminology and treatment of trans, and it also highlights (and condemns) how the media can incorrectly position them.

“The question I am most often asked about being trans – on the internet, in the pub, on the bus, at work – is the one I most dread answering. Sometimes it’s delivered through euphemism, sometimes crudely, and worst of all by a groping uninvited hand. Have you…you know? or so you’re…post or pre-op?”

CN Lester is trans and works as an academic, and this book shows impeccable research. Almost every point CN makes is backed up with an example or a fact or a statistic. CN dedicates a chapter to Caitlyn Jenner and how Bruce Jenner’s transition changed how others view transgender people (both in a positive way and a negative way – CN has some concerns about Caitlyn that they mention in the book).

There are a lot of aspects of modern society that CN Lester delves into. They talks about popular TV shows and movies and how they misrepresent transgender people, mentioning CSI in particular because of how many episodes of the show have featured the transgender character as the victim:

“The inclusion of marginalised trans women as jokes or victims only is not a new trend.”

This book is extremely well-written, presenting a fool proof argument for almost every chapter but also making sure to focus each chapter on different things so the reader doesn’t find themselves bogged down with too much information. CN Lester also talks about labels and the correct terminology for certain identities:

“Crucially, when talking about young people, the term ‘gender non-conforming’ is used, rather than trans. A gender non-conforming child could be a child challenging traditional ideas of gender expression: a little boy who is adamant that he wants to wear dresses and be a princess.”

I found out so much about transgender representation in film and TV, and also how they’re presented in the media. I found out a lot about how they like to be seen or viewed or spoken to, and there was a lot in the book about well-known trans people throughout history who accomplished certain things or who became a pillar for those struggling to come to terms with who they were.

At times this book felt a bit too much like an academic essay, with so many sources sighted and so many examples noted. What I would’ve liked from this book was more of a sense of CN Lester’s own experiences. I got to the end of the book and felt like I didn’t know much about the author. I didn’t know much about their journey, but rather what they observed of others and how those others were perceived.

CN doesn’t mention much about their own experiences (only what is said in the beginning and then dropped in throughout the book) and CN doesn’t mention much about trans friends either. Most of the examples given are of famous trans people or well-known personalities from history. Some of them died long ago. And although this is an interesting read, it felt a little heavy at times. I would’ve liked for CN Lester to have put a bit more memoir into this book to dilute the academic nature of it all.

If you’re a trans person then you’ll love CN Lester’s determination to strive for authenticity in modern society. If you’re not trans, you’ll learn a lot from this book. It’s thick with study and statistics at times and it’s very heavy on the academia, but it’s still very informative.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Trans Like Me
CN Lester
June 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

Authors Brian Conaghan and Sarah Crossan have joined forces to tell the story of Nicu and Jess, two troubled teens whose paths cross in the unlikeliest of places.

Nicu has emigrated from Romania and is struggling to find his place in his new home. Meanwhile, Jess’s home life is overshadowed by violence. When Nicu and Jess meet, what starts out as friendship grows into romance as the two bond over their painful pasts and hopeful futures. But will they be able to save each other, let alone themselves?

We Come Apart is a YA novel written in verse form, telling the story of two teenagers whose lives may be very different but both teenagers are feeling lost and alone.

Jess’ step dad abuses her mother and her brother skips out on them to live with his girlfriend. Nicu is a Romanian immigrant who is new to London and his family are lining up a wife for him. It’s his culture, he explains to Jess. But Nicu doesn’t want to marry a stranger and he doesn’t know what to do about that.

I am fifteen
and man now,
so my working in lorry van
make much sense.

Real reason we come to
England
is because I am
older,
and cannot be without
working
wealth,
or
wife.
-NICU

When the two of them meet doing community service, they become friends. They seem to bond over their broken homes and their troubled consciences, and Jess starts to separate from her friends at school. She’s popular, but they all treat Nicu terribly and she doesn’t want to stand around and watch. The boys make threats to Nicu, and they scare him in the change rooms.

I’ve been stealing stuff for ages,
Can’t remember the first time any more,
but it was way before
I started secondary school.

Small stuff back then —
other kids’ rulers,
fags from Mum’s bag.
-JESS

The style of writing in the book makes this a really quick read. You can flick through the book in one sitting. Because this is poetry and not prose, there is a lot more left unsaid than said, but I’m sure that this was the intention. The placement of each word is almost as important as the words themselves, conveying meaning in their positioning and drawing focus to emphasis.

Nicu’s story seems timely, no matter where in the world you live. In most schools, there are always going to be children who have arrived from another part of the world. Perhaps their English isn’t that great, or their religious or cultural practices are a little different from the other kids. We Come Apart highlights the bullying and racism that can go on in high school when an international student arrives.

At school I am
The boy worse than death.
Me,
the boy people won’t waste breath on.
-NICU

Both the characters are wonderful. Jess is snappy, bossy and withdrawn, and Nicu is approachable, friendly, and overly trusting. They seem like unlikely friends, but the hardships in their lives allows them to bond and forge a friendship and then a relationship.

Their relationship is not the main focus of the story, but pivots around many other elements of the book.

Shadows moving behind the front door.
A leg.
A head.
and I hear it too.
A thud.
A Scream.
And when I go in
Mum’s lying in the hallway,
blood seeping into the rug,
Terry standing over her,
his phone on the hall table.
-JESS

Don’t let the verse format of the book scare you off reading it. I’d recommend this to young adult readers, but also to people who are readers of poetry.

We Come Apart
Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan
February 2017
Bloomsbury Publishers Australia

Stars Across the Ocean by Kimberley Freeman

1874: Only days before she is to leave the foundling home where she grew up, Agnes Resolute discovers that, as a baby, she had been abandoned with a small token of her mother: a unicorn button.

Agnes always believed her mother had been too poor to keep her, but after working as a laundress in the home she recognises the button as belonging to Genevieve Breckby, the beautiful and headstrong daughter of a local noble family. Agnes had seen Genevieve once, in the local village, and had never forgotten her.

Despite having no money, Agnes will risk everything in a quest that will take her from the bleak moors of northern England to the harsh streets of London, then on to Paris and Ceylon. As Agnes follows her mother’s trail, she makes choices that could cost her dearly. Finally, in Australia, she tracks Genevieve down. But is Genevieve capable of being the mother Agnes hopes she will be?

This historical fiction novel by Kimberley Freeman moves between past and present. The book opens in the present (no specific year mentioned) with a young woman named Victoria travelling from Australia to England to assist her ill mother, who has had an accident at work and is currently in recovery. Victoria helps her mother recover some documents from her workplace and then she finds a letter from the 19th century. It’s a letter from an unknown woman to her child that she gave away. Victoria reads the letter and becomes enthralled in the circumstances surrounding it.

The letter then abruptly cuts off and the novel takes us back to Agnes Resolute’s story in the mid 19th century. She is on a desperate search to find her birth mother and this search takes her to London, Paris, Ceylon and then on to Australia. It’s a novel about loss, love, identity and family.

Even though Harriet adored me, even though she didn’t believe women should be so constrained as we are, she used all the words I expected. ‘Improper’ and ‘unsuitable’: even ‘shocking’ and ‘indecent’.
‘Emile Venson is a carpenter,’ she said to me at the end. ‘You cannot fall in love with a carpenter.’

Kimberley Freeman has crafted an enjoyable historical fiction novel. The transition between past and present is smooth and not confusing at all, and the writing is effortless. The storyline keeps readers on their toes and eager to find out more, and the huge cast of characters are interesting to read and engaging for the reader.

Agnes spends almost the entire novel following Genevieve Breckby, an allusive woman that Agnes believes is her mother. Genevieve is hard to track down. First, Agnes travels to London and works for a time with Genevieve’s sister Marianna and Genevieve’s son Julius. And then she continues to follow the woman’s trail all the way to Australia. Kimberley Freeman constantly flicks between past and present as Victoria finds out more information about the illusive woman who has written this letter. The reader then finds out all the circumstances of the birth because the actual story is being detailed intermittently as well.

Agnes’ heart fell all the way to her toes. This house did not look inhabited, just like the house in Colombo. That meant she was miles and miles from anywhere, without means to return to the village — and, quite honestly, barely any idea which way the village lay — and evening was approaching.

I felt like Agnes wasn’t a hugely likeable protagonist. She came across extremely naive and there were a few parts in the novel where I could sense exactly what was going to happen. When she decides to sleep at the abandoned train station, I knew she was going to wake up to find that her suitcase had been stolen. And when she arrives in London and is accommodated by Madame Beaulieu, I could tell that Beaulieu was a running a brothel and would no doubt be an antagonist in the novel. Everyone seemed to know it but Agnes, and when Madame Beaulieu took her purse and wouldn’t give her back her money, I was not at all surprised.

“After her encounter with Monsieur Valois, she was more certain than ever that she would not sell her body as Madame Beaulieu wanted her to, and no amount of vile menial work would have her change her mind. She could endure it; it wasn’t forever.”

I know that Agnes is supposed to be in her late teens, but Kimberley dropped a lot of hints and things then became a little predictable. Agnes’ nativity became a little exhausting, thus making her an unlikable character. The ending to the novel, which I won’t give away in this review, was also something that I found predictable. I picked the ‘twist’ about 100 pages into the book, feeling like Kimberley made it too easy for the reader and that there were a lot of hints and comments that gave away the ending.

I would recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction — while it has some flaws, it is interesting and enjoyable. Kimberley has illustrated all of the different settings so well; she has captured the feel and atmosphere of each location with great skill. And as far as historical fiction goes, Stars Across the Ocean is intriguing and engaging and you’ll want to read until the end.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Stars Across the Ocean
Kimberley Freeman
May 2017
Hachette Publishers

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson

In a tiny two-bed flat above a Turkish café on Neal Street lives Anna Treadway, a young dresser at the Galaxy Theatre.

When the American actress Iolanthe Green disappears after an evening’s performance at the Galaxy, the newspapers are wild with speculation about her fate. But as the news grows old and the case grows colder, it seems Anna is the only person left determined to find out the truth.

Her search for the missing actress will take her into an England she did not know existed: an England of jazz clubs and prison cells, backstreet doctors and seaside ghost towns, where her carefully calibrated existence will be upended by violence but also, perhaps, by love.

Set in London in the 1960s, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is mostly a mystery novel, with young dresser Anna Treadway taking it upon herself to search for the missing actress Lolanthe Green. It’s quite a clever novel, because it’s actually not just about the disappearance of Lolanthe, but it also an exploration about minorities in London and their experiences in the town.

“You’re sure she ran away?” Helen asked her.
“I have to believe it.”
“From what, though?”
“From us?” Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. Money trouble.”
“Men,” said Rachel.

Through Anna’s detective work, we meet all kinds of characters, including Brennan, Orla and their daughter Gracie. Anna intersects with Leonard, who is gay and is struggling to live with that because it’s illegal. Ottamar is a Turkish cafe owner who is overworked and overly worried about his daughter Samira. She seems to be disconnecting with the family and spending all of her time away from them, and Ottamar worries about what this could mean for the family. Finally, we meet Aloysius, who is well-spoken and is helpful to Anna in her quest to find Lolanthe, but he’s subjected to appalling racism and police brutality because of the colour of his skin.

“Ottmar’s mind drifted free of the assembled group and took him back to Melanippus’ vast living room in Nicosia with its marble floor and long dark leather seats. In a former life he’d written book reviews for a Greek magazine in his native Cyprus. The only Turk on the staff, he’d spent his evenings smoking cigarettes and talking about art and philosophy and life with all the other twenty-somethings who dreamed of flying away to a life of avant-garde delights in Paris or Berlin.”

Miranda has a talent for weaving lots of different characters together and moulding them in the one scene. The reader doesn’t feel confused or unsure of who is talking or who is the focus of the chapter — all the characters blend well together. Miranda has also taken us on a journey through the good and bad parts of history. We’re led through the streets of backdoor abortion and side street racism, but we’re also witnesses to the beautiful familial bond that some of the characters have, and the support that they have for each other. Some of the characters help Anna when she’s in need, and it’s great to see their friendships and relationships form.


“The police had beaten Aloysius and walked away from it. And somehow the overturning of one institution has cast all the rest into doubt. If the police were not what she supposed them to be, were the lawyers, were the priests, were the politicians?”

Miranda has done a wonderful job of capturing 1960s London, with the evocative description of the setting and the cultural relations between the characters. Set in London, we bear witness to the hopes and dreams of people in the arts. Some of them are past their prime and coming to terms with their ageing looks. Some are aware that their skin colour will probably always be a barrier for them in life and that their dreams may be farther than they thought.

“Look out into the darkness,” Lolanthe had told her. “Look out into the darkness and you’ll see them.”

Despite how lyrical and intriguing this story is, I did find my attention waning. I couldn’t help but feel like the story went on tangents and the origin of the novel and the reason we were drawn into the story (the disappearance of ‘Lanny’ Green) got a little lost along the way. Things became a little convoluted, and I got a little bit confused.

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is a novel about fitting in, in a city that’s not very forgiving to outsiders and is not welcoming for newcomers. It’s a tough decade for the characters, and finding Iolanthe Green has plenty of roadblocks. London is filled with casual racism, police brutality, immigration, loneliness and characters dreaming of more.

I received a copy of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars
Miranda Emmerson
January 2017
HarperCollins Publishers

But Then I Came Back by Estelle Laure

Eden has always let her head lead the way. It’s why she excels at ballet, at school, and at life in general. But when she nearly drowns and then wakes from a month-long coma, everything is different. She’s troubled by dreams that seem more real than waking life, and her neat cookie-cutter existence is no longer satisfying.

Unable to stifle her passionate heart anymore, she finds herself drawn to a boy with melting-chocolate eyes, and to a future different to what she ever imagined.

That’s when Eden discovers that when it comes to love, first you fall, then you have to leap.

But Then I Came Back is a young adult novel about a girl who wakes from a coma. She remembers things from when she was unconscious — she remembers another girl and she remembers the light, easy feelings she had. Everything was simpler then, and then she wakes up and she has to learn how to eat and talk again and she’s confused about everything.

Firstly, you should note that But Then I Came Back is a sequel to Estelle’s debut novel This Raging Light. This book takes place after This Raging Light ends, and features the same characters but from a different perspective. You don’t need to read Estelle’s first novel to be able to follow this (I hadn’t read it) but I imagine it would make a lot of things easier. There were moments in the book where I felt like I was missing something, like a certain character wasn’t really introduced but they should’ve been. Finding out that this is almost-but-not-really a sequel was a big ‘AHA!’ moment for me.

This book raises a lot of questions about death and what happens to a person when they’re on the brink of dying but then they come back. What do they see? How do they feel? Are they changed after this moment?

“The girl who is not Lucille who has tattoos of angels on her arms opens her mouth like she’s trying to tell me something. Bubbles drift toward the surface. That’s where I want to be. I kick my legs, but she tugs me back and forces my wrist.”

When Eden wakes up in hospital, she realises that the girl that she saw when she was unconscious is the same girl who is still in a coma in the same hospital ward as her. But that girl looks like she’s not going to make it, and all of sudden Eden is starting to think about death and dying and if anyone else has experienced something similar when they almost died.

I quite enjoyed this book. I think Estelle took a concept that is quite common in young adult fiction (a young girl waking up from a coma) and made it that little bit different. It forces the reader to think beyond the normal, into the paranormal. At one point, Eden consults a woman with supernatural abilities to see if she might be able to contact this unconscious girl, and she befriends a young boy Joe who is the only other person visiting this patient in the hospital.

I loved the strong sense of family in the novel — despite some bickering, Eden and her twin brother Digby are quite close and he’s there for her when she wakes up. Her parents are also supportive and helpful and it’s nice to see their presence in a young adult novel.

“Digby’s doing a lot of talking, which is a good thing, because I’m still not totally used to being outside yet. The hospital was a self-contained concrete block that held all of my necessities. Now my house has become the same. Outside, there’s a storm brewing, with angry clouds, the wind so vicious I can feel it shaking Beast as we rumble down the hill and the whole world trembles.”

The beginning chapter, written from the point of view of Eden’s best friend Lucille, probably isn’t needed and could’ve been deleted from the book. Mostly because it’s written in second person, when the whole rest of the novel is written in first person from Eden’s point of view. Additionally, there’s no real reason why Lucille needs to have a chapter in the book when it’s about Eden and how she copes with waking up from the coma. Perhaps this was done for those readers who’ve read This Raging Light.

Another weakness in the novel was Eden’s friendship with Joe, which was a little underdeveloped and their feelings for each other were a little vague in the book. At times, I felt like his character was a little redundant and was causing the book to go off tangent. He didn’t feel important enough and he didn’t feel like he was aiding Eden as much as the blurb made him out to.

But Then I Came Back is a quick, enjoyable read for those of you who love young adult fiction. You don’t need to read the first book to understand this one, so you should regard this as a standalone.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

But Then I Came Back
Estelle Laure
April 2017
Hachette Publishers

%d bloggers like this: