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Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Review- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

Beyond Magenta on Goodreads

Hi, everyone! As this book is LGBT, I'm putting it under The Literary Others: An LGBT Reading Event, hosted by the lovely Adam @ Roof Beam Reader


 BOOK SUMMARY:

A  2015 Stonewall Honor Book

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens.


Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.
 


Release date: February 11th 2014
Published by: Candlewick Press
Page numbers: 192

REVIEW: 

Beyond Magenta is a book that's written and photographed by Susan Kuklin, who spoke to six transgenders who have shared their absolutely shattering but incredible stories. To know that there are people out there who suffer immeasurably simply for being who they are, is so heart breaking that it brings tears to the eyes. There are honestly no words to describe how raw and rustic this book is. 

Aside from just being a book full of stories where Jessy, Christina, Mariah, Cameron, Nat and Luke share their painful coming of age stories, Beyond Magenta is a powerhouse of knowledge because there is so much to learn from the book. It almost feels like as if, over the years, the word "different" equals bad or unacceptable. But that's clearly not true, because no dictionary defines different as that. Reading this book is like reading a widely acclaimed knowledge book, because it has so much to tell and teach. 

Every story in this book moved me so much that it made me want to hug the person I was reading about. Without even meeting Jessy, Christina, Mariah, Cameron, Nat and Luke, I feel like I know them quite well, and I want to be their friend. Each of their stories was engaging and sad but also very well shared and the latter is so very brave of them all. To know that there are people who might face the same problems as all of them, and to be assured that they will have them all to lean on to, is simply magical. 

Beyond Magenta is an emotional read, and definitely one that is an eye-opener to the world around us.


Buy the book: AMAZON (IN)


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