None of the Above by I.W.Gregorio - review

[MeerderWörter]

My dear OSS family!

I know I should be in bed since at least three hours, but this book simply didn't let me sleep. (It's 5:30 am now, Mum won't be happy about this). I've read this 328 pages book in English plus Author's note plus Acknowledgements in less than 36 hours, no, I didn't read it, I ploughed through it.

I've always heard the discussions about representation, and I could never totally get them. I knew it was important, but only now do I really get it. I never had a problem when a boy was in the lead role, because for me it was always clear that I can do the same things he does. Only now, that I've read a story about my kind that has touched me like no other story has before, do I understand it. Now I know that I can do anything, and only biology and society set my limits. And these limits can be pushed.

"When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She's a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she's madly in love with her boyfriend.
But a visit to the doctor throws everything she thought she knew about her perfect life into question. Kristin discovers that she is intersex, which means that tho she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy "parts".
Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin's entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self?
Incredibly compelling and sensitively told, None of the Above is a thought-provoking novel that explores what it means to be a boy, a girl or something in between.

This book achieved something only one book ever did before - it made me shed tears. Only Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides could achieve this before (when I read books I curse and am angry, but I'm really not a crier). With Kristin, I could relate so much, that it sometimes frightened me, and then, no two intersex stories are alike, because no two humans are alike. This book is a rollercoaster-story to read really, because it deals with the feelings of a person that has been betrayed, in maybe one of the most fundamental ways they could be; it deals with the question: Am I a boy or a girl? It shows how awkward suddenly everything is, from a normal word like woman, to having to choose between man and woman, and what if oneself is neither? Or is oneself really neither?

I love how accurate the story is, and that real-life examples have been included in the storyline in a way that really fits it. I can't find one tiny thing that I think this book is not right in, because in the way it was told, Kristin could literally walk the streets of New York, and none of us would notice it.

A book about trust, betrayal, finding oneself, starting anew and friendhip, it is the best book I have read this year, maybe the best book I have ever read.

To my dear intersex family:
If you like to read fiction, then you should read this book! It might not be the best to read when you just found out, because there are quite a few paragraphs in it that might be triggering if we still deal with all the troubles there are for a small amount of time. But when you somewhat settled, my family, then this book is perfect.
It made me shed tears, it made me laugh at jokes maybe only we truly understand, and, as I said, it maybe is the best book I have so far read in my life.

Now, I can only say thank you, my OurSharedShelf family!

XOXY
Meerder

[Robert]

It sounds so good! :).
My book is on it's way, I can't wait to read it.
:))

[MeerderWörter]

Meelie wrote: "Hey Meerder!!

Whilst this is (an amazing!!) book review, we're popping this over to Book Suggestions. Is this something you were wanting to add to the OSS book shelf?

Thanks!

Meelie"

Of course pop it over to Book Suggestions! I was writing this at 5 in the morning, nearly pulling an all nighter. My brain wasn't the best working anymore.

If you'd add it, this would make my day. It's the one book with the one main character I could relate to the most, out of all the books I've ever read. And it shows, women are more diverse than at first thought.
I wanna read it all over again!

XOXY
Meerder

[Robert]

I too read this book very quickly, Though not as quickly as you Meerder.
Though I am not intersex, I could empathize with certain situations Kristen had to deal with but in different ways. I too shed a few tears with this book. :)

[Laura]

Hi Meerder! I read this book last year and loved it! I have another book suggestion for you if you haven't read it already it's called Born Both: An Intersex Life. It's a memoir of Hida Viloria, an intersex activist and I can't put into words how much I loved this book!! I got it on audible where Hida narrated it which made it even better!

[MeerderWörter]

Laura wrote: "Hi Meerder! I read this book last year and loved it! I have another book suggestion for you if you haven't read it already it's called Born Both: An Intersex Life. It's a memoir of Hida Viloria, an..."

I actually have that on the radar for quite a bit of time now and I will definitely check it out sooner or later.

P.S.: I think it's awesome that you've None of the Above, if you want, drop me a PM.