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The Other Me
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Fifteen-year-old Treasa Prescott thinks she's an alien. She doesn’t fit in with the preppy South African private school crowd and feels claustrophobic in her own skin. Treasa is worried she might spend life as a social pariah when she meets Gabriel du Preez. Gabriel plays the piano better than Beethoven, has a black belt in karate, and would look good wearing a garbage bag
...more
Paperback, 216 pages
Published
December 19th 2013
by Harmony Ink Press LLC
(first published December 18th 2013)
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Nov 21, 2013
Tracey (Life and Literature)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
4-stars
"Do you know what it's like to live every day feeling trapped, feeling cheated by God and biology? Nobody asked me if I wanted this body." I grab at my boobs, wishing I could tear them right off. "Every day-" My voice cracks, and a new onslaught of tears threatens to wreck my complexion. "Every day, I wish I'd never been born, because then I wouldn't have to live this lie."
You know how sometimes you can start reading a book, and despite it being a fantastic and engrossing read, it can feel l ...more
You know how sometimes you can start reading a book, and despite it being a fantastic and engrossing read, it can feel l ...more

*Copy given for Honest Review*
This is a fairly quick read, as it's young adult and not long. It's relatively fast-paced, as I expected. The YA genre and length should not be deterrents for anyone interested in the subject, however. This was hands-down one of the best works of YA queer fiction I've ever read.
It is the story of a South African trans teenager, though it is also in part a love story. Not merely in the romantic sense (though there's a bit of that too) but in a general sense, includi ...more
This is a fairly quick read, as it's young adult and not long. It's relatively fast-paced, as I expected. The YA genre and length should not be deterrents for anyone interested in the subject, however. This was hands-down one of the best works of YA queer fiction I've ever read.
It is the story of a South African trans teenager, though it is also in part a love story. Not merely in the romantic sense (though there's a bit of that too) but in a general sense, includi ...more

When I read this book back in December of 2013, I absolutely fell in love with the storytelling style of this author. It was done in alternating POVs of both Gabriel and Treasa, and was really nice to 'get in their heads' so to speak. And the fact there was a glossary at the beginning of the book, well, it came in real handy, as I was VERY unfamiliar with the Afrikaans way of life and terminology.
Gender Dysphoria. What is it? Is it something we should know about, or better yet, how will it mak ...more
Gender Dysphoria. What is it? Is it something we should know about, or better yet, how will it mak ...more

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review
I really liked the sound of the blurb, but I never expected to like it as much as I did. I really like this authors writing style and as soon as I started this book I just couldn't stop reading it. The story totally captured my attention. The story is fresh and original and the author captures those teenager feelings of feeling left out so well. I could totally relate to Treasa, even though she has different problems, those feelings of being alon ...more
I really liked the sound of the blurb, but I never expected to like it as much as I did. I really like this authors writing style and as soon as I started this book I just couldn't stop reading it. The story totally captured my attention. The story is fresh and original and the author captures those teenager feelings of feeling left out so well. I could totally relate to Treasa, even though she has different problems, those feelings of being alon ...more

Review first published on my blog, Pieces of Whimsy.
4.5/5
This book is a great new contemporary read, so different from everything else that's out there, and it is brilliant! Suzanne van Rooyen does a brilliant job of crafting a story that is not only entertaining and engaging, but interesting and unique too.
There are several important issues that were brought up in this book, one of which I haven't come across before: gender dysphoria. Not to get too technical but basically one of the main chara ...more
4.5/5
This book is a great new contemporary read, so different from everything else that's out there, and it is brilliant! Suzanne van Rooyen does a brilliant job of crafting a story that is not only entertaining and engaging, but interesting and unique too.
There are several important issues that were brought up in this book, one of which I haven't come across before: gender dysphoria. Not to get too technical but basically one of the main chara ...more

Finally a teenage girl I can relate to, and not a school drama full of candy floss and makeup!
The Other Me tells a story of Treasa, alien to her own body, and Gabriel, the troubled multi-talent boy. Discussing their feelings and fears makes this book interesting on multiple levels: Nobody is perfect and you should not fear what you feel inside. The musical and school related themes bind the story well together to a believable teenager scenario one can truly relate to. You find yourself cheering ...more
The Other Me tells a story of Treasa, alien to her own body, and Gabriel, the troubled multi-talent boy. Discussing their feelings and fears makes this book interesting on multiple levels: Nobody is perfect and you should not fear what you feel inside. The musical and school related themes bind the story well together to a believable teenager scenario one can truly relate to. You find yourself cheering ...more

Every once in a while I encounter a novel that has so much resonance that I feel as if author Suzanne van Rooyen has written the book with just me in mind. The Other Me is such a story. Set in South Africa, this novel is told from the perspectives of two teenagers at a time of their lives when they are coming to terms with aspects of their selves.
See the full review at http://yougottaread.com/review-the-ot... ...more
See the full review at http://yougottaread.com/review-the-ot... ...more

I was expecting something completely different than I read, but I'm glad I was wrong. The Other Me focuses on a girl named Treasa who suffers from Gender Dysphoria. The author, I think, did a good job making the reader feel Treasa's confusion and feelings of being abnormal as she struggles to fit in as a teenager, but also as a boy. Really great read!
...more

Nicely intersecting stories here—Treasa* trying to understand her feelings towards her body and Gabriel struggling with the loss of his mother, while they also have a fledgling sort-of romance. I love that van Rooyen made a point to separate gender and sexuality here, and that there's a limit to how much Treasa and Gabriel's stories have to do with each other. I wish it had gone on a bit further, because Treasa in particular seems to really only be getting to the beginning of the journey by the
...more

Wow, this was lovely! The chapters on Treasa doing experiments to see if she's an alien are so cute and funny. They were kind of tongue in cheek.
Gabriel was really a guy with flaws, and sometimes some of the things he says makes me frown. But ultimately, I like him as a person. Not only does he have "redeeming qualities," I truly liked how, as we can see from his perspective, we understand his struggles and how he arrives at his conclusions. (view spoiler) ...more
Gabriel was really a guy with flaws, and sometimes some of the things he says makes me frown. But ultimately, I like him as a person. Not only does he have "redeeming qualities," I truly liked how, as we can see from his perspective, we understand his struggles and how he arrives at his conclusions. (view spoiler) ...more

Fifteen-year-old Treasa Prescott thinks she’s an alien. All signs in her carefully executed experiments lead to this conclusion since she clearly doesn’t fit in with the other preppy South African private school kids she attends classes with. She feels claustrophobic in her own skin, constantly questioning herself. When Treasa meets amazing Gabriel dr Preez, she thinks he is perfect. Treasa grows increasingly concerned when what she thinks is love for Gabriel turns into a deep longing to just be ...more

A great story for a young adult with gender dysphoria, the author expresses Treasa's emotions and thoughts to her gender well and Treasa's circumstances, opening up to friends and family and the general difficulties with acceptance and understanding from those friends and family.
Treasa is a typical teenager, pushing boundaries, watching favourite tv shows, writing fan-fiction, listen to music and trying to have fun. Whilst Treasa has a difficult time understanding herself she realises it is her ...more
Treasa is a typical teenager, pushing boundaries, watching favourite tv shows, writing fan-fiction, listen to music and trying to have fun. Whilst Treasa has a difficult time understanding herself she realises it is her ...more

I have really contradictory feelings about this novel. On one hand, it felt way too long, but on the other, I thought it didn't get to the point until the very end. Reading from the back cover that one of the main characters "wants to be a boy" (I'm quoting because it's a problematic phrase, but it's the one the character/author used), and having been recommended this book as a YA novel with a trans main character, the huge plot twist wasn't really a plot twist at all, and that was a bit disappo
...more

This is a fairly quick read, as it’s young adult and not long. It’s relatively fast-paced, as I expected. The YA genre and length should not be deterrents for anyone interested in the subject, however. This was hands-down one of the best works of YA queer fiction I’ve ever read.
It is the story of a South African trans teenager, though it is also in part a love story. Not merely in the romantic sense (though there’s a bit of that too) but in a general sense, including self-acceptance and love bet ...more
It is the story of a South African trans teenager, though it is also in part a love story. Not merely in the romantic sense (though there’s a bit of that too) but in a general sense, including self-acceptance and love bet ...more

Reading this book I started to understand what people with hey fever go through. I was constantly crying and it wasn't that the whole book was sad but more that everything seemed to add to the tragedy of her life. Starting from somewhere around the middle of the book I couldn't hold back my tears. I was reading and my tears kept blurring my vision.
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A Guest review of this book can be seen on my blog on 6/17/14. A Friend went BEA and received a complimentary copy of the book. She asked to be a guest reviewer of my blog
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Harmony Ink Press: The Other Me by Suzanne van Rooyen | 1 | 8 | Dec 19, 2013 09:32AM |
I'm a queer author with a penchant for the dark and strange. I primarily write SFF but enjoy literary writing as well.
When not writing, I teach music at an international school, climb, eat anything involving peanut butter, and serve the whims of my shiba inu. ...more
When not writing, I teach music at an international school, climb, eat anything involving peanut butter, and serve the whims of my shiba inu. ...more
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