Helpful Score: 10
I enjoyed this book very much. Bohjalian manages to take a controversial and, to some, off-putting topic and imbue it with humanity and immediacy. Not an "issue," but a personal (albeit socially constructed) struggle, the subject of transsexualism is handled deftly in this touching novel. I anticipated the "twist" at the end, but enjoyed watching it emerge, nonetheless. For some petty reason, the entire time I was reading this book I was distracted by wondering whether the NPR plot feature was devised merely to justify the book's exceedingly clever title.
Helpful Score: 5
What an incredible book! I was touched by the clarity and depth of the characters. Their individual complexity and the power of the whole is undeniable. I felt Dana was particularly well portrayed. Dealing with Transsexuality and gender differences is always difficult, but Bohjalian handles it remarkably and I was thouroughly impressed.
Helpful Score: 4
Well-written story of a MTF (male-to-female) transsexual who falls in love with a heterosexual woman *just before* he plans to undergo his sex-reassignment surgery. Tastefully told. Interesting plot twists. I enjoyed this book
Helpful Score: 4
This book totally took me by surprise but it ended up being a pleasant one. I really enjoyed it and it was very enlightening about the transsexual community.
Helpful Score: 4
Interesting premise but definitely not my favorite Bohjalian book. A lot of the plot - namely, the relationships between the key characters - just didn't ring true. This could have been a much better read than it was... I was disappointed.
Helpful Score: 4
I mostly enjoyed this book; the topic facinates me. It amazes me how the author can write books on such vastly different subjects. I liked midwives better - but this is good too...
Helpful Score: 4
with trans-sister radio,you will take a look of human characters with issues larger than they are. tackling here the explosive issue of gender.
this book was impossible to put down, you will love allison banks and university professor dan stevens.
this book was impossible to put down, you will love allison banks and university professor dan stevens.
Helpful Score: 3
i think if i hadn't already read so much about the transgendered community, i would have found this book more interesting.
Helpful Score: 3
great book, the topic was way off anything I had ever read about, or cared to know in such detail, but a very very good story
Helpful Score: 3
this was a very different read and i liked it allot. many may think that the subject may be too controversial for some the story of a transexual her life and loves and controveries. a good read
Helpful Score: 2
Excellent....GREAT twist at the end that you would NEVER expect
Helpful Score: 2
Trans-Sister Radio is a very thought provoking book. I enjoyed reading and witnessing the transformations of its characters.
Helpful Score: 2
Fascinating read!
Helpful Score: 2
The end was horrible. It made me wish that I hadn't read the book at all.
Helpful Score: 2
Very strange content but still kept me wanting to know what happened. This is one of my new favorite authors.
Helpful Score: 1
Bohjalian gives a face and reality to the issue of "gender dysphoria" -- the notion that one has been born into a body with the wrong gender -- with his odd love story between a Vermont college professor who falls in love with a woman just as he is about to make the surgical transition to the female body he believes he was destined to inhabit. Bohjalian says a lot of things about the nature of love, the "straight" community's discomfort with (or active dislike of) transgendered individuals, and sometimes provides TMI about the surgery itself. There are indeed moments here that will make you squirm, but there are also many moments that will make you think. He loses points for setting up a truly odd love triangle at the very end, which Constant Reader has seen coming for a while, but kept hoping wouldn't develop.
Helpful Score: 1
I really, really enjoyed this book. I wasn't able to put it down. The ending was a little far fetched, but it didn't ruin the whole story.
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting concept, made good reading during my vacation because I enjoyed it but it wasn't too hard to put down. Those expecting juicy sex scenes will be disappointed, but the story is more about relationships, including a love triangle or two. I agree with another reviewer who wondered if the whole National Public Radio element was brought it purely justify the punny title (which came first, the book or the title?). However, I can only give it three stars because of the ending, which I found ridiculous, like M. Night trying too hard for a big twist. The book would have been better without it.
Excellently written bok. Could hardly put it down. Wonderful depiction of what a community can tolerate when someone totally different enters the scene and begins a relationship with a well-respected schoolteacher. Highly recommended.
Helpful Score: 1
This is the same author as Midwives. It was interesting, yet a little bizarre.
Helpful Score: 1
Certainly a unique twist on the gender issue.
Helpful Score: 1
Good book about an uncommon situation. If you liked his "Law of Similars", you'll like this book.
Astonishingly beautiful.
In brief, Allison falls in love with Dana the man. Dana reveals what he has known since childhood - She is a woman in a man's body. And she will soon undergo surgery to correct nature's mistake.
This book could have been a hot mess. Instead, the author tells a compassionate and tender story that asks some important questions about identity. What defines us? Does the soul have gender? What is gender?
An honest book you will interact with on many levels.
Highly recommend.
In brief, Allison falls in love with Dana the man. Dana reveals what he has known since childhood - She is a woman in a man's body. And she will soon undergo surgery to correct nature's mistake.
This book could have been a hot mess. Instead, the author tells a compassionate and tender story that asks some important questions about identity. What defines us? Does the soul have gender? What is gender?
An honest book you will interact with on many levels.
Highly recommend.
This book was a real page turner! It is written about a subject that I am sure would make an excellent read for book clubs! A great deal to discuss and comment on! The book is narrated by 4 different characters, which makes it very interesting and kept me turning the pages wondering what next! After reading this book, I am going to read past books by Chris Bohjalian.
This was such a fantastic look at the world of transgender and transsexual people, and at gender dysphoria. The NPR story telling format was also a nice change from your usual book style. I was hooked and fascinated from page one!
This novel was a real eye-opener for me. It tells the story of a man, Dana, who is a professor at a New England university and who is also transgender. He is dating a divorced woman named Allison who is a school teacher at a local elementary school. Allison has a daughter named Carly who is getting ready for college and who is happy that her mother seems to have found love again with Dana. But before long Dana is set for his transitioning surgery and Allison is there to help him through the process including helping him to dress and act in his new role as a woman. Dana ends up moving in with Allison which results in outrage in the community who feel Allison is setting a bad example for the children she teaches. This is all told from the perspective of Dana, Allison, Carly, and Allison's ex-husband, Will.
As I said, this was really an eye-opener. At some points, it was very explicit in telling specifically how the transitioning surgery is performed and how a man is surgically and hormonally changed into a woman. It also is very clear on why both men and women take this drastic step...being trapped in the wrong gender since birth. Overall, I found this novel to be very enlightening and it left me with a lot to ponder and think about. This is the third novel I've read by Bohjalian and all of them have been very thought-provoking. I'll be reading more of him.
As I said, this was really an eye-opener. At some points, it was very explicit in telling specifically how the transitioning surgery is performed and how a man is surgically and hormonally changed into a woman. It also is very clear on why both men and women take this drastic step...being trapped in the wrong gender since birth. Overall, I found this novel to be very enlightening and it left me with a lot to ponder and think about. This is the third novel I've read by Bohjalian and all of them have been very thought-provoking. I'll be reading more of him.
Not for everyone, but a very well done story of love and being true to self.
I am a Chris Bohjalian fan. I came across Midwives less than a year ago and have been working my way through his entire body of work since then. He is a great story teller but I think his real gift is his choice of stories to write. He is able to take material that is fascinating in itself and draw characters that are interesting,yet flawed.
In this particular effort, Bohjalian introduces us to a few characters who deserve a book of their own--Carly and Allie have so much more to tell us. By focusing on the small part of their lives that is Dana, we get a glimpse of great characters leading very complex and challenged lives. I feel like I have to know more about who these people are...before and after Dana. Hopefully, Bohjalian feels just as invested and will revisit them.
This is a fine book, although I agree that the ending stretches a bit. Of course, it really is not the end. Is it?
In this particular effort, Bohjalian introduces us to a few characters who deserve a book of their own--Carly and Allie have so much more to tell us. By focusing on the small part of their lives that is Dana, we get a glimpse of great characters leading very complex and challenged lives. I feel like I have to know more about who these people are...before and after Dana. Hopefully, Bohjalian feels just as invested and will revisit them.
This is a fine book, although I agree that the ending stretches a bit. Of course, it really is not the end. Is it?
How can you not love Chris Bohjalian? Not one of his best books, but a great read nonetheless. The ending was a bit far-fetched, and I don't understand the purpose of Carly as a character. Other than that, I enjoyed the thought-provoking nature of this book. At some parts you will get so mad! Then you stop to think, would I act in the same way? I wish more authors were willing to take on subject matter like this.
An excellent read - this book forces you to think about the subject of transexuality from all different angles, and open your mind to the issue of sexuality. Couldn't put it down!
Bohjalian gives thoughtful treatment to complex and delicate issues and has tremendous skill for great character developement.
A very well written look at gender dysphoria. Very well drawn characters who you want to come out of this not just ok, but "all right!!!" Bohjalian pulls you in at the first page and won't let you go. I read it in one day, 342 pages, so it is a quick and fascinating read. I highly recommend reading this one. It is nothing like any other book I've read.
This book on transgendered relationships was very interesting. I really enjoyed it. The plot, however, was a bit predictable, but the characterizations struck me as realistic. And I thought that the rather delicate subject matter was handled well. The detail on the surgery was a little - well, more than a little - graphic, but it was an important part of the story, even if it was not for the squeamish. I think Bohjalian is a very talented writer and I really enjoyed this book!
I liked it more than I thought I would, it held my interest. I don't read a lot of fiction.
The story was set in an area I'm familiar with as my in-laws have lived in South Burlington for the 30+ years I've known them. I would recommend this book.
The story was set in an area I'm familiar with as my in-laws have lived in South Burlington for the 30+ years I've known them. I would recommend this book.
i loved this book. i was amazed at how he could write from a teenage girls' point of view. this is a beautiful story about a relationship between a girl, her mother, her mothers boyfriend who decides to transition, and the world. i couldnt put it down and plan on reading it again.
A story about a divorced woman who falls in love with a transsexual man (who is going to have reassignment to become a woman). Interesting look into the transgender issue, but lacking. I found the relationships to be unbelievable, esp the twist at the end of the story. It's just not realistic. Can be graphic at times, & was gripping in places, but overall, just OK for me.
When schoolteacher Allison Banks develops a crush on university professor DanaStevens, she knows that he will give her what she needs most: gentleness, kindness, passion. Her daughter Carly enthusiastically witness the changes in her mother. But a few months into their relationship, Dana tells Allison his secret: he has always been certain that he is a woman born into the wrong body, and is considering a sex-change operation. Allison, overwhelmed by the depth of her love, finds herself unable to leave him, but, by deciding to stay, she must face questions most people never consider. Not only will her own life and Carly's be irrevocably changed, she will have to contend with the outrage of her Vermont communtiy and come to terms with her lover's new sense of self - and hope that their love will transcend their ingrained notions of what it means to be a man and a woman.
I just love anything Chris Bohjalian writes!
I am giving this book one star because the writing and story itself was gripping and well crafted. However, the ending was miserable, unrealistic, and such a cop out. I was so pleased to read a book that really looked at transgender relationships, and to end the book in the way he did left me feeling like he abandoned his subject to appeal to the heterosexual book buyer.
Autographed
