Gender Queer: A Memoir

Okay, well, this book is amazing. And not to sound bossy, but go get it. Immediately.

Regardless of who you are or how you identify, this graphic novel will speak to you. This is the memoir of Maia Kobabe (e/im/er), who struggled for years to fit in. For em (preferred gender-neutral pronoun), gender and social expectation never quite fit together. And yet in so many ways this book is about much more than gender. It’s also simply about identity and how painful and agonizing it can be to be different or to not fit in. Throughout this intensely honest and poignant memoir, Maia struggles with things like fitting in as a homeschooled kid, being terrified of puberty, and struggling to ask people to use is preferred pronouns. In other words, this is a book about both feeling accepted and accepting yourself (which can be the hardest part).

Maia Kobabe tells is story with such skill, beauty, and feeling that you won’t be able to put it down or resist its magnetic emotional pull. Perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the book is that identity can be a cruel thing–for all of us. Whether or not you know much about what it means to be gender queer, you know what it means to feel out of place–and to feel that it’s your fault, rather than the fault of our habits, that you feel uncomfortable. Kobabe depicts er life with such skill that it’s impossible not to be engrossed and invested. E tells is story with fantastic humor and visual creativity, delightfully rounding out this deeply affecting and empowering book.