We were left in the dark

This was a difficult book to like. Almost all our readers didn’t like the book, mainly because they didn’t like the subject. Not the being of the book, the being the book spoke about. The author’s father was reviled as a narcissistic bully, who still expected those who came within his circle to provide for his needs and wants. It would be very difficult to make someone with these traits likable, and the author does not try to do so. What she does try to do is get to know Stephanie (formerly Steven) better. After being absent from her life for two decades, the readers wondered if this was even possible. Turns out it really isn’t, and I think at first we blame the wrong person. Stephanie/Steven is written honestly, which means she never gives up too much information about herself, her life or her intentions. Or is it the author, still struggling with issues unaddressed, that gives us the incomplete picture? Changing gender involves more than a physical process, and the emotional outcome isn’t clearly described. Our wonderful internet is full of great resources on transgenders persons, who they are, how they cope and why they changed. We wanted more of that, more about the emotional side of change. The physical changes are described well, but we still don’t have a good idea of who Stephanie/Steven IS. Or more to the point, Stephanie is still Steven, in personality but not in body. Incomplete, which was how we felt after the book was read.