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)

Review- Very Good Lives by J.K. Rowling

Very Good Lives on Goodreads

 BOOK SUMMARY:

In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, Very Good Lives offers J.K. Rowling’s words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life, asking the profound and provocative questions: How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others?

Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world-famous author addresses some of life’s most important issues with acuity and emotional force. 

Release date: April 14th 2015

Published by: Little, Brown and Company

Page numbers: 80

REVIEW: 

Before I begin writing about Very Good Lives, I just wanted to point out that I read this book on an epic day in magical history, and that's 31st July, 2016 which aside from marking the birthdays of my hero Harry Potter and my Queen J. K. Rowling, also happened to be the release of the most awaited book that had Potterheads all over the world go mad, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Well, I read it more in honour of the Queen's birthday, but it was a special day overall. 

I have never reviewed a J.K. Rowling book before, and frankly, I don't need to; because no matter what she writes, it's gold, it's always going to remain etched in my heart and it's going to get five out of five bright and shining stars. Nonetheless, I decided to write something about Very Good Lives because I honestly feel that this book deserves to be read as much as Harry Potter, because it is very important. I don't know how she does it, but JKR makes me cry every time with her powerful writing, that conveys so much. 

Very Good Lives is barely a half an hour read, which gives us the opportunity to read the speech JKR delivered at the Harvard 2008 graduation. I so wish I had graduated from Harvard in 2008, but that's when I got done with school, so I feel it's easy to pretend this was written for me. Anyway, the speech is packed with so much power and influence that it really touched me and had me thinking how is it that we Potterheads haven't made a big deal out of this beautiful piece of art? Because it certainly deserves that. 

There's not much I want to say aside from the fact that JKR knows how to tell stories AND influence people better than anyone else. She keeps saying that all the magic we need is within us, but really, she is magic. Everything she does is wonderful. I don't care when everyone reads this book, but I sure hope they do, because they might not know this, but they need it. Read this book. Please. 

Buy the book: AMAZON/ FLIPKART