a really great novel w a few big issues | trans book review

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  • Опубликовано: 19 ноя 2024

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  • @Alliien34
    @Alliien34 5 лет назад +134

    although the sexual assault scene made me deeply uncomfortable, i feel like its goal was to carry the point that if you wanna know riley's assigned gender, you are part of the problem. i'm not trying to defend the scene, especially since there wasn't any warning, it's just a thought i had after reading it.

  • @abignothing
    @abignothing 5 лет назад +69

    omg i did the exact opposite, the first few times i saw ACAB written down i kept thinking it was "assigned cop at birth"😂

  • @allgarfieldsarebeautiful5792
    @allgarfieldsarebeautiful5792 5 лет назад +147

    WOW ASHTON, we get it you hate handwriting fonts and didn’t think diary of a wimpy kid was classic work of literature like the rest of us :( !

  • @edwardjaydonh2984
    @edwardjaydonh2984 5 лет назад +76

    That lack of trigger/content warning is really bothering me. I haven’t read the book, but you’d think that an editor would pick up on the fact that, I don’t know, it could be triggering? I’m really pissed off.

  • @vampire-riley
    @vampire-riley 4 года назад +95

    my name is riley n hearing u say my name with they/them made me so much happier with myself n in general. thank u :)

  • @jayflight5351
    @jayflight5351 5 лет назад +80

    Your point about the content warning I feel is especially important in young adult novels. Like I can excuse it in novels marketed toward a mature audience but young adults are a sensitive age group.

  • @nnoctivagantt
    @nnoctivagantt 5 лет назад +42

    I wish there was more media that featured trans characters (who play a major role in the story) where the story doesn't revolve around them being trans. Like a scifi novel or something where the main character happens to be trans , and that is addressed, but its not about transition or dealing with transphobia or that sort of stuff. I just think that would be neat.

    • @thebookwormhotel5336
      @thebookwormhotel5336 4 года назад +2

      I'm writing a fantasy novel with an enby mc ,,,,

    • @katelynmupfupi2427
      @katelynmupfupi2427 4 года назад +3

      You should try reading dreadnought by April Daniels. its about a mtf superhero. it talks a good bit about her being trans, but has a good story outside of that :) /pos

    • @Oliver-vp1pc
      @Oliver-vp1pc 3 года назад +1

      I recently read the Cemetery Boys which was really good! It had a trans man as the main character, and his transness was a large portion of the book, it wasn't the main plot

    • @clouddd8053
      @clouddd8053 3 года назад

      @@katelynmupfupi2427 it was so good and it has a sequel!! (The way it was written was easy for me to understand when some YA just sounds confusing so thats a plus)

    • @chaotic.nebula
      @chaotic.nebula 2 года назад

      @@thebookwormhotel5336 SAME!!

  • @mini-ch2wn
    @mini-ch2wn 5 лет назад +74

    the trans character isn't the most main character, but if you like YA fantasy: the series Magnus Chase and the gods of asgard by Rick Riordan has a genderfluid/trans semi-main character in books 2 and 3. he's a cis straight white author, but has always made an effort to make his characters increasingly diverse (and not just with queerness). imo he always does it very well, and I'm also a pretty harsh critic representation-wise i think. i haven't read it for a year or two, but it's probably my favourite trans rep i've ever read

    • @finn7435
      @finn7435 5 лет назад +6

      Elliot V heck yeah, totally second that

    • @echostatic3392
      @echostatic3392 5 лет назад +21

      Rick Riordan has come really far with diversity. I mean just compare Lightning Thief to any of the Magnus Chase books

    • @crow-bar-tender
      @crow-bar-tender 5 лет назад +17

      Completely agree on that one!! Alex Fierro is such a strong trans person

    • @overworkedvt
      @overworkedvt 4 года назад +1

      @Jacob Harton same

    • @Hazyla
      @Hazyla 4 года назад +5

      Alex has some of the funniest lines

  • @ClosetDemon
    @ClosetDemon 4 года назад +39

    when i came out to my aunt as gay she gave me this book which w s sort of the turning point for my look on gender and my gender. i knew there was something different about my gender but until i read that book i only knew of male and female. for me it helped me find who i was and deal with dysphoria and help me work through all the denial, even if it wasn't the most accurate book.

  • @clairemckinley691
    @clairemckinley691 5 лет назад +39

    Okay I finished the video and it was v insightful. I haven’t read this book yet but if I find a copy of it I’ll definitely give it a go!
    I recently read a book with a trans main character and it’s honestly one of my favourite books that I’ve ever read??? It’s called I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman, it has a very diverse cast full of multiple queer people and poc and it explores fandom/bandom culture in the most real way I’ve ever seen. It is a YA contemporary which I know isn’t your thing but the writing is so stunning and it’s an incredibly emotional book. If you can get your hands on it I highly recommend reading it, it’s amazing.
    Also a book that recently got published that I haven’t read but rlly want to is ‘I Wish You All The Best’ by Mason Deaver, and it’s a book with an enby main character written by a non binary person!
    Also also, I recently asked my irl uni friends to call me my new name and it went really well and it feels v nice.
    Thanks for the video Ashton! I hope you are going well
    -Cal

    • @graveyardpansy
      @graveyardpansy  5 лет назад +5

      illI def look around for that book, and a friend recently told me about I wish you all the best and i wanna read it so so badly!! I’ll keep both of those in mind. and im really really glad your friends took your name well !!! as always i love your comments cal, thank you for talking to me 💜

  • @SarahDarkhand
    @SarahDarkhand 4 года назад +18

    This book actually made me realize I was nb fun fact

    • @graveyardpansy
      @graveyardpansy  4 года назад +11

      that’s so cool!! and absolutely a part of why representation in YA is so important :)

    • @sampepper7682
      @sampepper7682 3 года назад +1

      Yah it taught me what Gender Fluid was and then I discovered I was Gender Fluid so I have a really big attachment to this book

  • @nos5915
    @nos5915 4 года назад +14

    symptoms of being human is my favourite book and i stand by that
    it was my first exposure to being non-binary, especially being *genderfluid* (though i'm genderflux which is ever so slightly different)
    but like
    a trigger warning would have been *really fucking appreciated*

  • @whatgenderami
    @whatgenderami 5 лет назад +26

    “BECK BECK BECK BECK, punky nerd” - Ashton, 2019

  • @brooke-l8i
    @brooke-l8i 5 лет назад +45

    You should read The Art Of Being Normal, one character is ftm and another is mtf and it’s about them being friends and growing up

    • @augiestewart3940
      @augiestewart3940 5 лет назад +10

      ginasfs I agree the only thing that bugged me was that boy was kinda transphobic in a way... like not using the write pronouns but over all it was a good book!

    • @industrialalliance9905
      @industrialalliance9905 3 года назад +3

      The book regularly deadnames and misgenders Kate though. It was good as an introductory book but its not very good in general

    • @chaotic.nebula
      @chaotic.nebula 2 года назад +1

      @@industrialalliance9905 mhm that was something i had a big issue with, it was fine ig but the guy was super transphobic towards kate even though he literally has trauma from being hatecrimed for being trans??? idk it doesnt make sense to me

  • @gh0stbat110
    @gh0stbat110 5 лет назад +7

    “I immediately read that as All Genders Are Bastards” I laughed so much.

  • @clairemckinley691
    @clairemckinley691 5 лет назад +34

    :0 this video is such a long one! I am v v excited for long ashton

  • @ezraadasiak
    @ezraadasiak 4 года назад +7

    I've been binging your trans book reviews, and it's making me want to write a book. I have so many ideas for portraying niche trans experiences that cis authors tend to leave out.

  • @CommonSandpiper
    @CommonSandpiper 5 лет назад +10

    45:07 Not releated to your excellent book review, but comic sans is very easy for my dyslexic self to read, and it's 'basic' font that you don't have to pay extra for/automatically installed in most computers. :)

  • @n.c.435
    @n.c.435 5 лет назад +10

    I read this book and the main Takes™ I remember thinking as I read it were
    1) I'm glad the author never specified Riley's assigned gender tbh? idk how to explain it
    2) [kindof a spoiler??] shoutout to their friends for being so supportive about it?? god I wish that was me
    3) I rly wish the author had had Riley specify their pronouns bc whenever I wanna talk abt the book im like "oh shit,, what Do I Do"
    but yea overall great book and im Stanning the nb rep !!!
    edit: also [spoilers again but] yeah abt the social media thing !!! i dont have Nearly as many followers but on tumblr I have like 1.5k people following me and its literally RIDICULOUS what ppl will say to a 16-year-old trans kid on the internet. and Riley is like.,.,., An Icon™ for dealing w/ internet harassment
    edit again because I have lots of thoughts: the apostrophe thing yea!! like I try not to critique people's grammar UNLESS they've already stated they think they're smarter than me in which case it's like Oh YoUrE sO sMaRt HoW cOmE yOu CaN't SpELl HuH but I try not to do it otherwise (even though letting go of grammar mistakes can and will cause me Pain when it comes to Discourse™ or fanfic)

  • @sogemorgan
    @sogemorgan 4 года назад +4

    ohhhh man this book was like my trans awakening lmao my mom saw it at the library and got it for my sister after she came out as a lesbian bc she was trying to be a good ally but i read it instead and i was like "oh thats me huh" damn that was kind of a repressed memory

  • @whatgenderami
    @whatgenderami 5 лет назад +6

    only 15ish min into the video, but just wanted to comment to say that it’s awesome their gender assigned at birth wasn’t given. it sounds like a really refreshing perspective, especially compared to the previous book you reviewed, where the author made comments that reduced folks down to chromosomes or other unnecessary things, and/or had underlying implications of the question cis people/ enby erasers have trying to determine someone’s “real gender/name etc.”. it also sounds like it forces the reader to grapple with the uncertainty and the potential for the reader to feel uneasy while also realizing someone’s gender assigned at birth doesn’t determine their genuine gender. okay, end of rant/back to the video.

    • @whatgenderami
      @whatgenderami 5 лет назад +4

      just reread my comment and finding the ambiguity of the phrase “enby erasers” amusing. to clarify i meant people who erase the existence or legitimacy of enby people.

  • @crow-bar-tender
    @crow-bar-tender 5 лет назад +5

    "If I Was Your Girl" by Meredith Russo (a trans woman! yay!) trigger warning for physical (sexual?) assault though
    She also wrote "Birthday" but I haven't read that one yet

  • @jadechew2804
    @jadechew2804 4 года назад +3

    I actually thought that the bloglr=tumblr thing was good, bc a lot of trans ppl can relate to that kind of experience(especially circa 2016)

  • @finn7435
    @finn7435 5 лет назад +12

    i’ve read this book a couple times and i always think of you with the against me! mentions lol

  • @samuelhealy7672
    @samuelhealy7672 5 лет назад +8

    Yes I love this review and the book sm! My favourite youtuber and my favourite book! Also idk if it would give you any peace of mind but at my school AP English is a class. Like there is only 1 AP English. But anyways you brought up a lot of good points I never fully formed into coherant thoughts and I like it! Also as someone with a hella cliquey school and bad anxiety, I actually really related to the way the cliques were presented

  • @samuelhealy7672
    @samuelhealy7672 5 лет назад +5

    Also sometimes on the little publishing page with where and when it was made there can be sort of trigger warnings. It gives kinda genres so SOBH might say "queer lit" "realistic fiction" "mental illness" "assault". Obviously it isn't a very good trigger warning and better warnings need to be popularized but that can be helpful in the mean time:)

  • @lovelyhuman6027
    @lovelyhuman6027 5 лет назад +10

    Really interesting review! I recently picked up this book and really liked it, so it was nice to find a review in my recommendations. I did notice the lack of they/them pronouns, and that was something that kind of bothered me, especially since I use those pronouns. And I definitely agree there should have been some type of content warning.
    Also, kind of random, but my school had AP English as its own class and I was really confused when you said it wasn't.😂 I guess every school is different, but it's pretty interesting to see how other areas set up their classes.

  • @saracha3323
    @saracha3323 3 года назад +2

    The lack of trigger warnings did really upset me, however I must say that Jeff managed to redeem himself in his second book, The Lightness of Hands (an AMAZING book,btw) by putting a trigger warning right before the book started. I'm so glad he learned from that mistake

  • @whatgenderami
    @whatgenderami 5 лет назад +4

    32 min in and i forgot Jack was here and thought Siri was enabled or something 😳

  • @elliptictae
    @elliptictae 4 года назад +2

    The sexual assault scene made me very uncomfortable and I hate how it followed that very similar trend in a lot of books about trans people, which I didn't like. But besides this, this book is so important to me and always will be because it was probably the biggest book in helping me accept myself with my gender identity.

  • @clouddd8053
    @clouddd8053 3 года назад +1

    As someone who is gender fluid (and is only half way through the video) the way you describe how Riley explains their gender is nice. I have only read one book with a genfluid character before (the Toll) and while rep is nice it didn't really reflect my experiences, but Riley seems more relatable and that makes me wanna get this book just for that alone. You gave a disclaimer in the Begining of the video though so I'll watch out for those things and see if I could handle it
    Thank you for bringing this book to my attention though!

  • @kirstenjackson2172
    @kirstenjackson2172 5 лет назад +5

    You should do 57 bus. It’s about a violent situation surrounding an agender person and young black male.

  • @ClosetDemon
    @ClosetDemon 4 года назад +4

    if one day i finally finish the book im making i might send it to you to see if it's any good lol.

  • @estherriley6879
    @estherriley6879 4 года назад +1

    I read this book a few years ago with my best friend (I’m cis and he’s trans) and we both really enjoyed it. Neither of us were very critical readers back then and were just happy to see some trans rep in books.

  • @mestopresto
    @mestopresto 4 года назад +1

    OH MAN! I entirely FORGOT how much I wanted to read this when it came out. My friend got it right as I started questioning my gender and for some reason it became my ultimate goal to somehow obtain and read it without anyone noticing.
    I remember looking it up at every library I went to and never working up the guts to check it out lol.
    And one night I was staying over at my friend’s house who owned it and I stayed up super late just so I could read the first chapter when everyone was asleep. I was shaking the entire time!!
    Dude that hunt lasted like 6 months and I never even read it... how did that entire experience vanish from my mind?
    Thanks for reminding me of it, maybe I’ll check it out sometime :)

  • @julianfantasia9033
    @julianfantasia9033 4 года назад +1

    I took a class in Adobe Illustrator in high school and one of our lessons was basically just "script fonts are a newb trap".

  • @seaslug67
    @seaslug67 4 года назад +4

    thank you for saying the thing about how correcting grammar sucks. i was an english major and i hate grammar so much and i used to be an asshole about it before i realized how racist/classist the idea that there is only "one grammar" can be. my brother is a linguistics major and also hates grammar. correcting grammar is not just being a quirky nerd its actually upholding classism and racism in our language, the very foundation of our understanding of one another!!!

    • @SpecialBlanket
      @SpecialBlanket 4 года назад

      I think it's some kind of revenge thing where English majors do who want to elevate the class connotations of their degree after hearing crap about it.

  • @kat9245
    @kat9245 4 года назад +2

    the most interesting thing about this book looking back is that I just reread it and was extremely triggered despite not being so the first time around.

  • @A_Dingus
    @A_Dingus 5 лет назад +3

    Yo I just wanted to tell you that you have a really calming voice✌

  • @myceliumlung
    @myceliumlung 4 года назад +1

    This was my favourite book when I was 13 and I just came across your channel, and am really excited to hear your opinion on it. I named myself after the mc lol

  • @finch4309
    @finch4309 4 года назад +1

    i love jack just occasionally popping in to contribute to the video

  • @noahspunkantics2022
    @noahspunkantics2022 2 года назад

    i really appreciate your book reviews, they mean alot especially considering i read mainly queer books. I recently read a book called act cool centered around a transmasc theatre kid with unaccepting parents, which hit home because i too, am a theatre kid who is transmasc and has unaccepting parents.

  • @jadechew2804
    @jadechew2804 4 года назад +2

    lol I don't remember Derek Yu, and I've read this book twice

  • @8385emma
    @8385emma 3 года назад +1

    I watched this and then I literally spent 7 hours reading the entire book lol

  • @peytonlee7311
    @peytonlee7311 3 года назад +1

    Can you do a review gracefully grayson or George they are both fairly short books about being young and trans

  • @madiecandy930
    @madiecandy930 5 лет назад +5

    You should read The Art of Being Normal, there’s two main characters, one mtf and one ftm and I just thought it was good.

  • @deadlyhuggles
    @deadlyhuggles 2 года назад

    Holy shit wait I haven't thought about this book in ages.
    Okay I picked this book up from my library like 3/4 years ago while desperately trying to find any trans or nonbinary or just non-cishet media, while heavily questioning my own gender (spoiler alert, i'm nonbinary, potentially gender fluid but still kinda questioning that last bit)
    I found this book, while going to a tiny private Christian high-school, no friends in sight except a couple online, with hair down to my knees, and boobs that were about to become double Ds. At that point I didn't even /know/ any other queer people irl. I looked at Riley and I saw myself but so much better. Someone capable of passing as whatever they wanted at any moment, and capable of doing it subtly so that no one would know. Someone with people online supporting them, and friends in real life that accepted them, and their shit all figured out as soon as they could managed to come out to people.
    And then they got sexually assaulted. And it talked about suicide methods. And they got outed. And I don't want to blame this book or the author for anything, but I already had an issue of occasional suicidal thoughts at the time, and they got a lot more descriptive after this book.
    The pronoun thing never struck me as weird at the time but now thinking back on it I think it was just because of my inexperience with pronouns in general? I didn't realize until /last year/ that you could use multiple pronouns at once, not just switching directly from male to female. Now I can look back on this and I realize that this book might have been why I shied so heavily away from the label of genderfluid, because Riley's shifts were so clear and so direct from F to M and back again, with no confusion in the middle, that me, having some days mostly F and some days mostly M but with periods of neither and both and M but F presentation, felt... wrong.
    I still think fondly of this book, for what it really was my first "mainstream" look at characters who were cis, but I also look back on it and recognize how weird and damaging some of that stuff was.

  • @BeccaRaptor94
    @BeccaRaptor94 5 лет назад +1

    How do you feel about the novel, 'Invisible Monsters' ?

  • @rowan8067
    @rowan8067 5 лет назад +1

    You should do the art of being normal next!!

  • @BeccaRaptor94
    @BeccaRaptor94 5 лет назад +3

    2:54 A GHOST! (jk)

  • @TheNervousSubject
    @TheNervousSubject 5 лет назад

    I know this isn't the point of the video, but I absolutely love your necklace

    • @graveyardpansy
      @graveyardpansy  5 лет назад +1

      thank you !! i made it myself, it was super easy :)

  • @emwillis5539
    @emwillis5539 3 года назад +1

    omg i watched this video a while ago and came to rewatch it while doing my laundry or whatever and apparently i had disliked your video???? anyways sorry that was not intentional oops aldjhfasdf

  • @colinlaw2847
    @colinlaw2847 5 лет назад

    You read so many interesting books, any suggestions?

  • @radiodonta9167
    @radiodonta9167 2 года назад

    haven't watched this yet, but as a trans person i HATED this book, so this should be interesting.

  • @genericusername4206
    @genericusername4206 3 года назад

    i agrée with you with too many characters in book
    like a song of fire has so many characters to keep with you while the game of thrones series had a few

  • @ren-w
    @ren-w 5 лет назад +1

    Sometimes I forget that you’re a teenager and not an all-knowing god