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Some Girls Bind

3.75
325 ratings125 reviews
Genderqueer adolescent Jamie and her gay friend Levi come out to her brother Steve, who encourages them to seek acceptance from friends and family. Told in verse format.

200 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2019

This edition

Format
200 pages, Paperback
Published
February 1, 2019 by West 44 Books
ISBN
9781538382530 (ISBN10: 1538382539)
Language
English

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Rory James

Rory James

4 books10 followers

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Ratings & Reviews


Community Reviews

3.75
325 ratings125 reviews
5 stars
71
4 stars
134
3 stars
97
2 stars
15
1 star
8
Displaying 1 - 10 of 124 reviews
Profile Image for Luupi "The Reading Queen".

197 reviews146 followers
February 12, 2019
3.5 stars

First of all, I'm not the biggest poetry reader so you may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt.


Some Girls Bind was such a unique story for me, I've never read a book where the main character is genderqueer before so it was a great experience being able to see through Jamie's eyes.

Jamie are adorably sweet and strong nontheless. I loved seeing how they discovered how they felt about their identity and how that was perceived by other people. Their struggle was so saddening but truthful, this is one of those books that make you feel exactly what the character is going through and that made it a very moving story.

Moreover, we have a friend group in here that was just the most adorable thing to read about, they are all so supportive to each other and they created a safe space where everyone can be their true selves without feeling judged. And that's also another nice thing about this book, every friend had their own challenges and things they had to deal with, it was a very diverse group and we don't get that often.

The problem I had with this book, though was that after finishing it I cannot exactly tell you anything else about Jamie apart from the fact that they are genderqueer. I was expecting to get to know them better but I get the story focuses only on that aspect.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and very eye-opening read but I didn't give it 5 full stars because I would have like to know Jamie outside of their gender identity too.
gold-friendshiplgbtqpoetryread-2019
Profile Image for Kali Cole.

339 reviews27 followers
October 27, 2018
Don’t you just love when e-books from Netgalley mess up words, passages, or add repeat the same section over and over for half of the book? 😂 The third one happened with this one and I thought I was going crazy.
Profile Image for Brandy.

119 reviews34 followers
March 5, 2019
“What if this is a test
And the answer is all of the above?”

I love the format of this! <3 The poetic writing is just amazing. So many beautiful quotes I wanted to include, but I think it’s frowned upon to quote the entire book in your review. *sighs*

Jamie is a high school student who identifies as they. Not they as in plural, but they as in not girl or boy: Gender Queer. The story follows Jamie as they “come out” to others about their identity. This book also talks about how to be supportive to someone as we see Jamie’s friends and family respond.

Not only do we get to hear about Jamie, but there are other characters that are going through some tough problems as well. I think this book serves as a good reminder that you never know what someone else is going through. People carry all kinds of insecurities and baggage. It is a really short book, so there is not too much out of the situations of the other characters though.

I hope this book helps someone like books helped Jamie.

**Thanks to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for free, honest review. I think there also may have been a formatting issue on my copy as sections were repeated multiple times in a row, so I rated and reviewed as if this was just an unintentional error.**
Profile Image for Katie.dorny.

756 reviews417 followers
November 26, 2018
I am a sucker for a book written like poetry and lgbtqia books.

I highly recommend this book to everyone however you identify.

It’s emotional, it’s honest about what someone who is genderqueer and in high school goes through internally and with their loved ones. It isn’t a massively heavy book, I love that it seems to be targeted at younger audiences like it’s teaching the next generation how normal this is and how you can be an ally to anyone learning their identity.

2018lgbtq
Profile Image for Sandra "Jeanz".

1,080 reviews145 followers
November 5, 2018
The cover has a young female body with the chest bound to look flat, but at this stage we do not know if this is a girl who wants to look like a boy, or something/someone else.

After watching a TV mini series called Butterfly about a young boy who identified as a girl. The mini series centered on his family and how they coped with the news as well as how the young boy himself felt, what he went through at school and with the "system" he had to work through to be herself.

I then noticed this title whilst browsing online and as the TV show had kind of pulled my interest to a subject I had never really given a great deal of thought to and that led to me wanting to read this book.

So I started reading this book not really knowing what was meant by the "hi-lo" terminology. So perhaps I should explain what is meant by this term first . . .I "googled it" here is the result of that search "A hi-lo book, broadly defined, is a title that offers highly interesting subject matter at a low reading level. A number of publishers have focused on producing these books, though they often take slightly different approaches to creating the products that best fit a particular market."

The central character who is the female binding her chest is Jamie. Jamie is secretly binding her chest since she was 14 years old and is scared to reveal that she is doing so to anyone in her family or friends. Jamie has a great group of friends though all seem to have their own issues and the friend can literally talk about anything and everything except their individual secrets. There's Levi who is gay and his boyfriend Evan,, neither boy has officially "come out" to his parents. Though they both decide to "come out" to their families during the course of the book. It's such a shame when one families reaction is that they do not want their gay son any where near their daughter! Eric wants to drop out of swimming but has been continuing as he feels that is what expected of him and is the way to get a scholarship to further education. There's also Nora who has to take care of her younger brother and is literally their only "parent" as her father is an alcoholic. Nora and Jamie always rush to the cubicles to get changed in gym class. Jamie is hiding her binding and Nora is trying to keep her bruises secret.

Jamie struggles with who she is, is she still a daughter and a sister? Jamie knows she doesn't want to be a boy so discovers she is "gender queer". Jamie hides

The person Jamie eventually feels she can speak to is her brother Steve. When he visits home for the weekend he notices his little sister seems quieter and as though something is wrong. It doesn't take too long to get her to confide in him. Steve immediately accepts his sisters wishes and offers to order her the correct clothing item to bind herself safely and correctly. Steve explains about a guy he knows who is gay and how hard it was for him to "come out". I guess Steve openly talking about sexuality lays the ground work for Jamie to explain how she feels, which is "gender queer". The book covers how her parents react and then how her close circle of friends accept her and support her when she reveals she is gender queer to them.

I thought the characters of Jamie and Steve were really well written and I loved how Steve reassured his sister that he loved her no matter what and that he would always be there for her. He also starts talking about the subject of gender which helps Jamie join the conversation and reveal how she has been feeling to them.

The book was an easy, fairly quick read and would be great as a conversation starter in schools, teen groups or even in an at home setting. I think it would be interesting if the other teens in the group had their own stories too. Even though Levi & Evan reveal their sexuality in this book, they could have their own book//books, and I think Nora should have her own book too. This style of book can really help teens broach the awkward subject.

My immediate thoughts when I finished the book were that the feel of the book, and it's writing style reminded me a little of Moonrise by Sarah Crossan. The subjects that Some Girls Bind places the spotlight on also struck me as similar
to Clean by Juno Dawson.

To sum up this is a great book about a group of friends who are slowly choosing their future paths as well as coming to terms with their sense of themselves. I think I actually learnt a few things from this book. Myself not being a teenager or younger person hadn't heard the term "gender queer" but I understand a little more of the subjects of LGBTQIA. I would certainly be interested in taking a look at any future books by this author.
Profile Image for ashes ➷.

605 reviews58 followers
June 30, 2019
I'm disappointed about this book... maybe I've just been spoiled, and I know there aren't a lot of good trans books out there, but this one just didn't 100% work for me.

So, firstly, the title and blurb misgender the main character. I get (in THEORY) why one might not want to spoil things, but this is literally a book about coming out as genderqueer. The blurb mentions that. I assumed originally that 1) this might be a gender-non-conforming (GNC) girl or nonbinary fem who binds, or 2) an AFAB nonbinary person who uses she/her pronouns... I mean, both exist, and I was particularly excited to maybe see more discussion on binding because of misogyny as well as dysphoria--I know personally I feel very uncomfortable with being outside and Looking Like A Girl because men may look at my chest or take it as an invitation to yell things at me. I'm also nonbinary, but obviously I'm not just interested in binding as a dysphoria thing.

But the whole book is about being nonbinary and Jamie does use they/them pronouns, so the blurb (and title)'s misgendering are inaccurate and give reviewers a chance to misgender the main character--which many do. See below. It's just not a good idea, and I found myself repeatedly thinking the title was wasted--yeah, some girls bind, but this isn't about that at all. This isn't about women who bind (a fascinating and underexplored topic), it's about a nonbinary person who binds. Nowhere are cis or at the very least non-trans women who bind explored. You could reasonably come away from this thinking that girls DON'T bind. I just... what???

The other main thing was the speed at which this book runs. I'm not sure if Rory is nonbinary, and I'm not sure if she's trans, and I'm not sure if her experiences of gender issues are just speaking to trans kids. It's not clear. I can see it going either way, but the book definitely did not feel accurate to me or anyone I know because most trans people do not find out they're nonbinary in a week--which is basically what Jamie does. There are about two pages dedicated to why they feel comfortable with the label of genderqueer (as opposed to male or female) and dysphoria. I can't imagine this as an accurate way for cis people to learn about trans people; there is a LOT more thought that goes into these things and it's way more complicated. Dysphoria was genuinely barely mentioned; it frustrated me that Jamie didn't seem to have any reason for feeling nonbinary other than a one-time visit to a cafe dressed as a guy. We don't really get to see them test anything out or explore androgyny, so we can't follow along on the journey properly or honestly get attached.

Also, obligatory "we live in the deep South and my parents aren't accepting until I come out at which point they suddenly are." I don't know; I was seriously frustrated that Jamie's mom went from calling people "queers" to being 100% totally okay with Jamie's pronouns IN THE SPAN OF ONE NIGHT. What. Oh my God.

Okay I'm done I'm sorry; the poetry was honestly very good (to my non-poet eyes) and overall I felt it was an easy book to sit down and read start-to-finish. I'm sorry for complaining so hard; I just feel like it gives me serious 'first book' vibes and I wasn't feeling that.

Ultimately, I don't see myself recommending it to anyone--it didn't feel accurate to my experience, it didn't feel very explanatory for cis people... I don't know. It's a fun read if you just want to sit down and breeze through something, but ultimately I think the book fell short of where it could've been.
rants
Profile Image for Ariana.

205 reviews72 followers
July 30, 2019
Originally posted on: The Quirky Book Nerd

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This is what is considered “hi-lo” fiction—short books that are designed to encourage young, reluctant readers to read more. This one seems like it is aimed for an early middle school to early high school audience, so basically mid-middle grade and early young adult. I did like this story quite a bit and I thought the diversity shown here was fantastic. I love seeing more LGBT+ novels entering the world and it is particularly good to target younger audiences. Novels like these encourage open-mindedness and may help readers become more accepting of others as well as themselves.

I will admit, I felt once again that this was a topic that would have been better suited to a slightly longer format. I think expanding the story just a little bit would help readers connect with the characters and better understand the subjects being addressed. However, James does present and explain the process of discovering ones’ identity in a clear and concise way. This is a positive story that I could definitely see inspiring readers to better understand who they are and helping them view the world in a new light. The main characters were likable and easy to connect with, which makes this a fairly engaging reading experience. Overall, I think this is a solid addition to both hi-lo and LGBT+ literature.
reading-challengereview-copies
Profile Image for Cindy.

323 reviews6 followers
Read
October 9, 2019
Written in a prose/poetry style. Quick read. Good for someome who is questioning and needs to feel validatedand that they they are okay. The main character covers questioning their gender. Understanding who they are. And slowly coming out to their friends and family.

"And why must I say that
"I'm lucky"
to be accepted
rather than to say,
"People need to do better.
I'm still a person"?"

This quote reminds me of a conversation my husband and I had about our child and their coming out. We kept being lauded for being great parents because we were accepting. My husband was mad and said "It's horrible that the bar is so low that accepting your child for who they are merits such accolades."

To all those who are not accepted, I am so sorry. You are deserving of way more than that!
2019fictionlgbtqayoung-adult
Profile Image for Manon the Malicious.

755 reviews38 followers
January 30, 2019
I was provided an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Told through verses, this book is Jamie's story. Jamie is a teenager, goes to school has friends, and secrets. Jamie's main secret is that they're not a she and they're afraid of people finding out.

This was pretty good. I enjoyed the poems and it's always interesting to hear about points of view from the community. My problem with the books from this publisher stays the same. They're too short and don't convey as much feelings as they could. It didn't help that the file was broken though that did not affect my rating. Anyway, it was interesting and the characters were layered but I felt like with stayed as observers of this story instead of living it. I don't really know if what I'm saying makes much sense, but basically, I liked it, I just would have liked more and for it to go deeper.
contemporarylgbtqiapnetgalley
Profile Image for Lucie.

580 reviews224 followers
February 1, 2019
3.5 Stars
*I received an eArc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest answer*

This book was fine... The only somewhat interesting thing about this book is the fact that the main character was genderqueer. Other than that I found the main character to be pretty bland for me to be honest, and I don't think it's helpful for a character's most interesting trait to be their gender identity. However, I can see how the main character's story could be affirming for another reader and actually how the character's blank personality might help others relate to it even more, by being able to place themselves into the story. I didn't find that the way the story was written (through verse) was particularly impactful, but I don't think it drastically lowered the quality of the story either.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 124 reviews

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