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Trans-Sister Radio

by Chris Bohjalian (Goodreads Author)

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 5,276 ratings · 605 reviews

With Trans-Sister Radio, Chris Bohjalian, author of the bestseller Midwives, again confronts his very human characters with issues larger than themselves, here tackling the explosive issue of gender.

When Allison Banks develops a crush on Dana Stevens, she knows that he will give her what she needs most: attention, gentleness, kindness, passion. Her daughter, Carly, enthusi...more

Paperback, 342 pages

Published August 14th 2001 by Vintage (first published January 1st 2000)

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Jul 28, 2011 Alex rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, lgbtq

This book takes an intimate look at a MTF transsexual's coming out/surgery and how this affects her relationship with her straight partner Allison, and by proxy Allison's family and the small town they live in. It's told from each character's PoV, alternating by chapter. Bohjalian really gets into the details of what the transition is like for all involved and that frankness is occasionally refreshing, although the single-mided focus on genitalia and Dana's surgery, as if it is the only thing in...more This book takes an intimate look at a MTF transsexual's coming out/surgery and how this affects her relationship with her straight partner Allison, and by proxy Allison's family and the small town they live in. It's told from each character's PoV, alternating by chapter. Bohjalian really gets into the details of what the transition is like for all involved and that frankness is occasionally refreshing, although the single-mided focus on genitalia and Dana's surgery, as if it is the only thing in any of their lives that matters, is also tedious.

The core of this book is about relationships and that's a real problem when the characters themselves fall flat. Dana is highly sympathetic but lacks any depth. She cooks, cleans, is great in bed, beautiful and intelligent. This is all a plus when you compare her to the many negative images of trans women in the media, but it also makes her seem somewhat unbelievable and more than human. Allison's ex-husband Will is realistic but forgettable and their daughter Carly has no real personality, she's there merely to talk about her parents. Allison is the most layered character but ultimately I found her unlikeable, even if I felt for her situation. Never once did I feel that she fully understood or tried to understand the reasons for her partner's transition and neither Dana nor anybody else in the story seems to realize or fault her for this.

Dana may get to narrate a few chapters, but ultimately this book is not about her at all. It's about everyone else and how their gender perceptions are shaken up due to meeting her (but not too much, as in the end normality rules the day). I can only assume that this book is aimed at readers who don't know much about transgender people, which goes a long way towards explaining the tacked on heteronormative ending.

If you're looking for something written by a transgender person with more of a critical perspective on the various issues transwomen face within society, I would suggest "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serano.(less)

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Sep 17, 2008 Ruby rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people with curiosity about mtf transition who can't handle non-fiction

If you're looking for an introduction to transgender issues, this may be a great book for you. I wasn't.

It seems apparent to me that the author thought the idea of a trans character was so intriguing that he would research the phenomenon and write a convincing book about the world of the transitioning MTF. I guess this is what authors do, and I can't fault his research -- as far as I know nothing he said in the book was inaccurate.

It was, however, bland, predictable, and ultimately implausible...more If you're looking for an introduction to transgender issues, this may be a great book for you. I wasn't.

It seems apparent to me that the author thought the idea of a trans character was so intriguing that he would research the phenomenon and write a convincing book about the world of the transitioning MTF. I guess this is what authors do, and I can't fault his research -- as far as I know nothing he said in the book was inaccurate.

It was, however, bland, predictable, and ultimately implausible.

My biggest problem was with the obsessive way in which this transition was the only issue in any of the characters' lives. The story is told from four points of view, that of the MTF, her girlfriend, her girlfriend's ex-husband, and her girlfriend's daughter. The play on words in the title is grating, as the father, and ultimately the daughter, too, are involved in public radio.

Whenever Bohjalian ventures away from the transition (which I feel as if I should capitalize or italicize to highlight its importance as it is emphasized in the book), which is rare, the story sags and becomes paper thin. We see the ex-husband go through a divorce that barely concerns him. We hear about the daughter's love affairs as if they're handshakes in a parking lot. It's apparent that Bohjalian wanted to talk about one thing, and one thing only: the transition.

Maybe I'm jaded, being a part of the queer community, and having a number of friends who have transitioned. Maybe I've read too many coming out stories, and I'm bored with the focus on one event in a person's life taking over everything. Queers have other interests than their genetalia, I swear. Even people whose genetalia is not aligned with their gender.

Finally, the ending was predictable and convenient, and though it was satisfying to have a happy ending for a couple of characters in the story, I also felt disappointed, and disbelieving. Do we really need to return to the comfort of heterosexuality to find happiness? Should we read that into the ending?

Perhaps that is Bohjalian's answer, but it sure isn't mine.(less)

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Jul 02, 2007 Milo rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fiction lovers

Shelves: queer

I loved this book. Not only did it handle transgender and transexual issues well, it was a captivating story filled with emotion and

Alison Banks, a grade-school teacher in a Vermont town, meets and falls in love with a charming and amazing man, Dana. A few months into their romance Dana confesses to Alison that she actually identifies as (gay) female, has begun hormones, will soon be dressing and living as a woman, and will be having sexual reassignment surgery several months later, that Januar...more

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Apr 29, 2008 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: uvm-group

I like Bohjalian's writing. This one is set in Vermont, with a side trip to Trinidad, CO. The subject matter is a male to female gender change and a family that is affected by it. I learned more than I wanted to know about the operation but it is interesting and I have more empathy for people who make that decision. Chris came to our book group and talked about his research for the book, which added new insights.

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Apr 07, 2013 TamElaine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-author-challenge, favourites, to-read-2013

I’ve found so much to discuss from this book and so let me start with a general review so that I can make the remainder a huge spoiler alert....

This is the third Chris Bohjalian Book I’ve read and while I’ve enjoyed the other two, this one is my favourite. He’s taken a subject that is sensitive and controversial and wrote with frankness, plenty of well thought out perspective from many angles, and brought it to life for a reader (most likely thousands of readers) that has not known a single tran...more
I’ve found so much to discuss from this book and so let me start with a general review so that I can make the remainder a huge spoiler alert....

This is the third Chris Bohjalian Book I’ve read and while I’ve enjoyed the other two, this one is my favourite. He’s taken a subject that is sensitive and controversial and wrote with frankness, plenty of well thought out perspective from many angles, and brought it to life for a reader (most likely thousands of readers) that has not known a single transsexual. He educates in his writing without making it obvious. He writes with as much curiosity as the reader reads. I don’t think there’s a better way to say it than to say that I appreciated this book. The points below contain spoilers including direct quotes from the book that I enjoyed or found intriguing....

(view spoiler)[ I had been really enjoying the book, the writing style was so smooth, and yet at the point where Dana revealed to Allison that he was going for reassignment surgery, I was beginning to wonder how reading this story would have felt for me if I had not known the secret....if the secret had been revealed to the reader at the same time Allison was finding out....but then I realized we would not have had the insight and the perspective from Dana to really understand (and I was really loving this – I think Bohjalian did a beautiful job on getting this point across without too much wordiness – but rather conviction that made me understand in way I never have before....I’ve had compassion and what I thought was understanding for people who felt they were born into the wrong sex, but the perspective that Bohjalian offered on the ‘situation’ (for lack of a better word) through his character, Dana, was rather enlightening to say the least.) And then in further contemplation, I wondered, since we knew this ‘secret’ so incredibly early in the book, and since it was being revealed to Allison fairly early, that either this book is going to read like a memoir, which would be enjoyable, or there was going to be a horrible outcome mounting to a climax.....and only a few pages after I was thinking this I was incredibly saddened to read these lines:

“In his opinion, the sole purpose of the transgender feature on VPR was to show Allie the error of her ways.

“That was never the case, and I suppose that’s become pretty obvious now. If I’d known then how our story would end, I imagine I would have done all that I could to prevent any radio programming at all about transsexuality and gender.”

As sad as I was to read these lines, if I hadn’t already been hooked by the mere curiosity of Dana’s feelings and life, I was certainly hooked now. And nearing the end, I was surprised to find such a twist.....and then it makes me wonder why Will would make the statement that he did, as quoted in the above two paragraphs...

I absolutely loved the part of the novel where Will asked Carly what she thought of Dana.....Her response made me smile just by the simple use of the pronouns....to show her respect for Dana’s feelings, Carly’s open-mindedness....her response was this: “Well, she’s a little weird and I have my doubts. But I like her. I like her a lot.”

I love that this book discusses perspectives from every angle – For example, Will is not just a character who thinks Dana is crazy and doesn’t approve of reassignment surgery – he is a guy that started with an opinion against reassignment and does research that supports his opinion – he is not open minded, but rather looking for ways, for solid intellectual reasons that validate his own – and in this way the reader is allowed the benefit of seeing these different angles. For example, Will points out “The fact is, no hormone was going to turn Dana Stevens’s Y chromosome into an X. No surgery in the world was going to offer him the particular history that went along with growing up female. No procedure was going to give him the joys or the terrors that must accompany pregnancy—that must, for teen girls, make sex a walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

“You simply couldn’t, it seemed to me, change a biological imperative.

“When I realized what Dana was going to do, I saw at best a parody of feminity. I saw the sort of man who could set the women’s movement back decades. Look at me, the transsexual screams, I’m a girl! I’m wearing a dress!”

I also have really enjoyed the humour in this book – I feel that while some characters poked fun of some of the points of transsexuality or of Dana’s or Allie’s situation, the humour was light, mostly respectful, made a point and got a chuckle from me regardless of the stance it made. And in a few spots, the humour was pure irony, as blatantly even pointed out here:

“Here’s an irony too good to pass up: The last name of the surgeon who in 1952 turned George Jorgensen into Christine? Hamburger. The guy with the knife was named Hamburger.”

Carly’s Grandmother, Allie’s mother, visited near Christmas before Dana’s surgery and met Dana for the first time – this was during the time that Dana was beginning to wear dresses to ‘try out his new gender before making it permanent’ (I really like Dana’s opinion on that aspect by the way – a perspective I think most readers would appreciate about authenticity.) Carly’s Grandmother’s take gave for some humour as well, but perhaps even some more open-mindedness than most would think from that generation....I loved her closing comments so much, and Dana’s response:

“Well, dear,” she said to Mom, “we all need to try new things now and then. Let’s face it: The first person to eat a lobster must have been a very brave man.”

“Or,” Dana said, smiling, “very, very hungry.”

A theme throughout this book was living the life you were meant to live – to be who you are.....and we see Dana finally getting the physical means to live who she is....and yet something that really bothered me throughout was that Dana wished for Allie to continue to be her lover....in a sense, asking Allie to be gay when clearly she was not....asking Allie to be someone she is not....and it was as if in spots Dana could not see this whatsoever....After the surgery, and preparing for the trip back home, Dana thinks:With any luck, I’d be back with Allison by dinner Thursday night, and we’d begin what I hoped –no, what I expected—would be a long and glorious and serene life together. And having said that, I can’t imagine Allison having to ‘fight’ for her job with the conviction it was going to take – how could she have conviction when she was agreeing to attempt a life living in a manner that was not who she was ? Even if she was supportive, even if she couldn’t bear not to have Dana in her life, how could she live as someone else entirely? And how could Dana expect this of her when Dana experienced how deeply painful it was to be expected to live as someone else for 35 years?

The book addressed so many moral issues that leaves us to ponder – How would it feel to BE a transsexual? How would you react if your daughter fell in love with a M2F? or a F2M for that matter? (Is this any different to your reaction if your child was to tell you he or she was gay?) How would you react if your young children were in a classroom with a teacher who cohabitated with a transsexual ? How about your neighbour? Is being transsexual in your opinion about sex or about gender? Is trans-sexuality a mental health disorder in your opinion?

Sometimes words or sentences just stick out to me, express something I haven’t been able to express as well as I’d like to....gives me a way to say what I’m feeling.... and there was such a statement in this book....

The first part is just to set up where the sentence was coming from “Was I nervous when I first started wearing women’s clothing? Lord, yes. But I also felt movie-star fabulous........” then later..... “You can’t imagine what it’s like after a lifetime in the wrong attire to finally fee the right clothing energizing your body.”

Energizing, describing clothing and even further, the RIGHT clothing, that was meant for you....oh, I understand this ! It’s awful to stuff yourself in clothes that are too tight or a fashion that doesn’t feel good....It’s horrifying to wear men’s shoes and feel like you’re are clomping around like a dinosaur simply because your feet are too wide....and it might feel cozy and comfortable to slip into a pair of jogging pants and sweat shirt, but it’s also a feeling of laziness, followed by guilt and eventually depressing....but when you find the right fit, the right style, the right material it IS energizing !

(hide spoiler)]

This is the third book I’ve read by Chris Bohjalian – and while I love his writing, I sometimes get a sense of ADHD – like he (or perhaps his characters) can’t stay on one topic or in a continuous time line for more than a few paragraphs. In the book Midwives, while I ended up loving the book a great deal, this jumping around in the beginning was almost the death of the book for me, yet it was such a fabulous story with really great characters and perspective. For some reason, I felt the jumping around seemed to work with Trans-sister Radio....and perhaps that the jumping around only appeared that way on a timeline, yet was rather quite well organized by topic....it was as if the topics or perspectives were introduced, explained or discussed exactly when the reader needed to hear them, as opposed to staying on a strict timeline....at least until it was necessary to follow a chronological sequence as it did at slightly more than the half-way point of the book.

Just as a sidenote, sometimes I pictured Dana as a taller David Spade and sometimes as a long-haired Jim Parsons.(less)

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Oct 19, 2012 Anne Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think what a lot of people forget is that when this book came out only sleazy talk show hosts we're talking about transgender and even then, it was only for shock factor. I found it refreshing to hear about the process happens and I have met the author and spoke at length about this extensive research to prepare. If you are active in the GLBT community, you might feel like you have heard this before, but not back in 2001 when it was published you didn't--a lot of acceptance has been acheived i...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Bekah Crozier rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was the first time I have read anything by this author - but I can assure you that it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would compare the style of this author to that of Jodi Picoult - another one of my favourite authors.
This particular story is about a modern family - told through the eyes of it's four members: the ex-husband, the ex-wife, the ex- wife's new transsexual partner, and the ex's daughter.
Allison, and elementary school teacher, meets a professor - Mr. Dana...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Zoe Jussel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here is one of those books that have reviews all over the place, from minus to plus five. Personally, I found the journey of a man becoming, what he feels inside, to a woman fascinating. This one had a twist with Allison, a teacher,falling in love with a young handsome professor who reciprocates the feelings tenfold. Both feeling they had found their soul mates..until Dana, the professor, confesses that is he undergoing gender transference and will shortly have the surgery to complete the proces...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Faith Baker rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is our current selection for book club and I just finished it over the weekend. I very much enjoyed reading it as it was a quick and easy read about a subject that up until now, I had never thought of. I knew it existed and that eventually in my life I would run into someone who is a transsexual, but truthfully, I had never given their struggle or their relationships a thought. I found the characters interesting and I came to care for them. The explanation of the surgery and recovery was th...more

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May 09, 2013 Judith rated it 2 of 5 stars

The title suggests the subject: a man, Dana, who has felt like he was a woman all his life decides to get a sex change. Before he does, however, he meets and falls in love with a woman, Allison. And doesn't tell her about his leanings until she too has fallen for him. The story follows the couple as they try to cope with their relationship in a fishbowl of a small town in Vermont, where Allison teaches sixth grade. She encounters significant prejudice and pressure from townspeople to move or qui...more The title suggests the subject: a man, Dana, who has felt like he was a woman all his life decides to get a sex change. Before he does, however, he meets and falls in love with a woman, Allison. And doesn't tell her about his leanings until she too has fallen for him. The story follows the couple as they try to cope with their relationship in a fishbowl of a small town in Vermont, where Allison teaches sixth grade. She encounters significant prejudice and pressure from townspeople to move or quit her job.

Just about the whole story is revealed early on, but in a sideways manner. The story is told from the points of view of the main characters: Dana, Allison, Allison's ex-husband Will, and her daughter Carly. Interspersed with their chapters are excerpts from the transcript of a radio program on NPR (All Things Considered). The story is about their lives as well as about transsexuals in general. The radio series even interviews doctors who perform sex change operations about the details of those operations.

This isn't the first time I have read a book with multiple narrators. And the same thing has happened this time as the last: I could not get attached to any of them. I found myself irritated by Dana's cocksureness at times (an interesting choice of word, I admit), at her obtuseness when it came to how different it would be for Allison to love her as a woman than it was for her to love him as a man. I was not particularly affected by Allison's feelings, or in fact anyone's, even though I could understand, in some ways, the dilemmas they faced.

I was irritated by the lack of understanding of the staff of the local public radio station. Generally I find public radio personnel to be very open to differences. They sounded like they were from the back country somewhere at times. Will, the head of the station, was not as out of it yet he too constantly agonized over the differences between "real" and "not real" women.

I was a little disturbed by the occasional references to just two genders. In fact, there are people who are neither male nor female, who simply do not identify as either. I would think Dana would be aware of this but I can imagine instead that she was too self-involved.

I was okay with Carly, perhaps most of all. She was on the sidelines. She accepted Dana coming and going, without much need for introspection. Her own life took a back seat to the drama in her parents', of course.

Not a winner in my opinion. I suspect that others were more affected by the personalities on the page. I hope somebody like that gets to read it next.(less)

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Feb 11, 2009 Slone added it

NOT what I was expecting. But I kept picking it up at the library, on several different visits ... and one time there was nothing else to listen to (yes, I am a big fan of audio books, but I also love traditional books - so don't go getting all Gutenberg on my butt), so it came home. Little did I know I was about the enter the world transgender ...

I don't remember liking it all that much, but I listened to the whole thing. I figured it was like broccoli: good for me. I really hate "good for me"...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Interesting book this one.
It’s the classic ‘girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, boy has sex-change throwing everyone’s idea of sexuality, gender and sexual orientation into a blender’ love story really.

Allison, ex-wife to Will, teacher in a small town, and mother to Carly meets Dana. University professional and all round really nice guy. Things are wonderful until Dana explains his hairlessness and occasional erectile dysfunction – female hormones will do that.

The story is told from the p...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Mackenzie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mine-hardcopy

Bohjalian tried, he really really did. Over all, this was a decent book. For anyone seeking a better, safe understanding of gender and concerns of transgender individuals with a fairly interesting story line and likeable characters, it is a good choice. However, for those with an understanding of what trans* individuals face, it has several points of annoyance and often reeks of textbook cloaked in fiction.

A couple of examples that made me twitch any time I read their print:

1. the word "transge...more

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Aug 16, 2009 Nitya rated it 3 of 5 stars

My book club chose this one, and because I am fascinated by the whole transgender issue, I found it a worthy read. When a divorced 40-something year old teacher, Allison, falls for her college professor,(Dana, and finds out after the fact he is transitioning to a she,there are a lot of questions raised. Will Allison still love Dana after he becomes a woman, if not, why? If so, does this make her a lesbian?
Along the way of discovering what she wants, the town, the principal of her school, her d...more

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Jul 30, 2010 Renie rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 10, 2010 Michele White rated it 3 of 5 stars

a good read-- quick, engaging, and you get to learn more about transition from male to female, which is something i don't know much about. Bohjalian's writing, as usual, flows really well and keeps you engaged in the story, but this isn't his strongest piece of fiction--the plot tension pales in comparison to Midwives and The Double Bind.

I do like his exploration of people's feelings towards something like gay marriage or transsexuals, an almost NIMBY sensibility, that in general it's OK, but yo...more

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Mar 07, 2009 SteffieStar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: chris-bohjalian

I enjoyed that each character (Allison, Dana, Carly & Will) each had chapters to tell the story from their eyes & heart & soul!

This goes to show how some people can be so predjudce just becuase you are a Transexual, Gay or Bi-Sexual. Thinking that you can catch it or teach it. God Forbid they just accept it as normal, for that person and let it be each indiviuals personal choice!

Chris Bohjalian you touched my heart & soul when you wrote:

"Or walk with me a few generations into the...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Roy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting, sympathetic, insightful look at a "world" that I (and perhaps most people) knew very little about prior to picking the book up. The significant differences between people of different cultures, nationalities, religions, lifestyles, etc. only serve to shed light on how ultimately similar we homosapiens all are to each other, most especially in matters of the heart.

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Jul 19, 2012 Maryann rated it 4 of 5 stars

3 and a half stars.

Interesting idea, I'm sure inspired by real life. I saw a tv show about transgendered people once where they interviewed a couple that was once a man and woman married. The man was transgendered, yet his wife stayed with him even after he became a woman so they could raise their children together. However, the wife was not gay and they lived together as friends.

I thought this book might be going in the same direction based on the title because of the word sister. I thought may...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Continualknowledge rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbt-reading-challenge

While this book was enjoyable there was also something missing or something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I guess why the focus around the radio? I mean it is an interesting way to tell the story and it sets up the premise but the book wasn't so much about the radio as it was about the people in the story and how their lives came to be surrounded and intertwined with one transsexual's choice to have a sex change operation. I did enjoy the love story that ran subtle and not so subtle in the...more

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Jun 29, 2010 Osho rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Bohjalian has tried, but he doesn't know from the transsexual experience. This reads a lot the way old lesbian/gay novels did in the 70s and 80s, where the emotional focus (and sometimes the whole plot) was about coming out. While the trans protagonist goes beyond coming out here, the emotion of the story sticks there and can't really move on. This could work okay, but all of the narrators have interchangeable voices, language, and preoccupations. I would sometimes lose track of whose chapter it...more

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Apr 11, 2013 sarathelibrarian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another winner from Chris Bohjalian. An incredible story of strength discovered and the difficulties of living with choices made once you've decided not to judge a book by it's cover - or in this case, gender. Through the eyes of four modern family members, Bohjalian relays the gender bending story to his readers as the books' fictitious corresponding NPR segments unfold. The word-nerd in me particularly enjoyed the author's subtle insights regarding the use of vocabulary.

"That was, in fact, the...more

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Mar 29, 2010 Adam rated it 2 of 5 stars

An interesting way to tell a story about trans-gender issues and the mental and physical intensity of going through the change. A little to pigeon holed at times for me. I have a parent who is trans-gender and even though it felt like I was educating myself a little bit into that world and mind space I felt more and more that when talking of this issue nothing can be generalized. Each and every experience for the people going through the change and their families is so unique and different. You...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book by accident browsing through the shelves at the library. My librarian told me the author was similar to Jodi Picoult. Even though the two authors are very different, they both had me captivated, sitting on the edge of my seat, curious as to what the next turn in the plot would be.

Bohjalian writes about a very controversial topic, that I have seen no other author do before. He had a good combination of facts, and an emotional appeal that I haven't seen before. I felt very connec...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I found it interesting how this story is told from four different perspectives. It allowed for a wide view of the story. Still, I found that there were scenes that wandered away from the central story that never really got tied into a theme at any point. I'm not really convinced that Carly's (the daughter's) perspective was really vital to the story. The points covered by her narrative could have been covered by the others.

The story itself was pleasant to read. It covered Dana's journey nicely,...more

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May 12, 2008 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pleasure-reading, formative, 5-star

This book had a profound effect on me, opening my eyes to so very much, and I passed that experience on the many other people who were just as captivated as I was. Bohjalian really researches his subjects and writes them with such intimacy that they stay with you for a good, long time.

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Feb 11, 2013 Preston Carter rated it 1 of 5 stars

First of all, take my review with a grain of salt. I didn't really go into the book wanting to read it. A friend gave it to me and said it's a good psychological read. I thought it sounded interesting, as it obviously pondered ideas surrounding transgender people.

I did like the way the book was structured and how it shifted points of view, but the ideas in the book were rather elementary. Everything related back to sex, basically the females of the story thought about sex 70% of the time they we...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Starlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Imagine a woman falling in love with a man; the woman is told a few months into the relationship that the man is a woman on the inside. This is the story of Allison and Dana.

When Dana tells Allison he is in love with her and then shares that he is a transsexual and is in the process of having a sex change Allison must deal with her own personal emotions and the uproar of her community. Allison’s ex husband, Will, secretly wishes the relationship between Allison and Dana will work and when it do...more

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Aug 05, 2009 Swanbender2001 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the first Bohjalian I was able to complete and I enjoyed the story line as it was quirky enough to keep me interested. I liked the weaving of the lives of everyone involved and the multi-layered emotional content of all. I didn't care for some people which helped with the conflict of emotions and the layering.
The story is about a middle-aged teacher who meets a college professor and falls in love right before the professor has a sex change operation. The professor is sure of what he is...more

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Feb 25, 2009 Vicky rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

An account of a transsexual who has his/her gender reassigned, and the effect this has on her relationships and the community in which she lives. I suppose Bohjalian really believed he was doing a service to transsexuals by writing a sympathetic account of their experience, and maybe he would have been if it had been a better book. In fact, it's both plodding and prurient -- an amazing achievement! It's about genitals, not about the people who have, or change, those genitals. Bohjalian doesn't b...more

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About Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian is the author of sixteen books, including The Light in the Ruins, arriving July 9, 2013 from Doubleday. Set in Florence and rural Tuscany between 1943 and 1955, it began as a re-imaginging of "Romeo and Juliet."

His other books include the New York Times bestsellers, The Sandcastle Girls, The Night Strangers, Secrets of Eden, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before Your Know...more Chris Bohjalian is the author of sixteen books, including The Light in the Ruins, arriving July 9, 2013 from Doubleday. Set in Florence and rural Tuscany between 1943 and 1955, it began as a re-imaginging of "Romeo and Juliet."

His other books include the New York Times bestsellers, The Sandcastle Girls, The Night Strangers, Secrets of Eden, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before Your Know Kindness, and Midwives.

He has called The Sandcastle Girls the most important book he will ever write. Published in July 2012 to great acclaim, this story of the Armenian Genocide debuted at #7 on the New York Times bestseller list, and appeared as well on the Publishers’ Weekly, USA Today, and national Independent Bookstore bestseller lists.

USA Today called it “stirring. . .a deeply moving story of survival and enduring love.” Entertainment Weekly observed, “Bohjalian – the grandson of Armenian survivors – pours passion, pride, and sadness into his tale of ethnic destruction and endurance.” And the Washington Post concluded that the novel was “intense. . .staggering. . .and utterly riveting.” The Sandcastle Girls was also an Oprah.com Book of the Week.

It was also a Washington Post, Library Journal, a Kirkus Reviews, and a BookPage "Best Book" of 2012.

Chris's awards include the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers; the New England Book Award; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; and the Anahid Literary Award. His novel, Midwives, was a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. His earlier novels have been selected as "Best Books of the Year" by the Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hartford Courant, Publishers' Weekly, and Salon. His work had been translated into over 25 languages and three times become movies (Secrets of Eden, Midwives, and Past the Bleachers).

He has written for a wide variety of magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and has been a columnist for Gannett's Burlington Free Press since 1992. Chris graduated from Amherst College, and lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.

You can learn more about him on the Q and A on www.chrisbohjalian.com, as well as on Facebook . And, if you like, follow him on twitter as well.(less)

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Quotes from Trans-Sister Radio

“No surgery in the world was going to offer him the particular history that went along with growing up female. No procedure was going to give him the joys or the terrors that must accompany pregnancy- that must, for teen girls, make sex a walk over Niagra Falls on a tightrope.” — 3 people liked it

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