Non-Binary Lives, An Anthology of Intersecting Identities by Jos Twist, Ben Vincent, Meg-John Barker, Kat Gupta

5 our of 5 🌟Confronting my cis-gender privilege

First things first: I don't feel I could ever rate someone's life story, hence I won't that. My review is based on the book's structure and how it made me feel while reading. All the testimonies in the book are real people's accounts and they are equally valid.

The book editing is excellent. The introduction includes an abundant explanation of terms used in the book and cultural context to all of them. The testimonies itself are divided into sections by themes like 'The Life Course' or 'Communities' to better grab the context. The editors have done an awesome job in explaining what being non-binary really means with all its various shades. Each of the narrations is different, some of them are more lyric and some more down-to-earth or including two or more people. The title consists of thirty distinct narrations overall and, like many short stories, I liked to read them separately with some time to reflect on each.

Non-binary is somehow new to me, I was raised in a country that doesn't even have its own word for being non-cis-gender (or cis-gender for that matter). As a consequence, my gender privilege was unbeknown to me for a long time. Many of the testimonies contained in 'Non-Binary Lives' described similar uprising but without that gender privilege. They are histories of solitude, fear, confusion, and struggle to belong somewhere. These are not feel-good stories by any means, even if they ended happy-ish. But these are stories that should be read to learn about life in all its forms as the narration often went way beyond gender and sexuality because being non-binary means different things to different people.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for this digital copy.

Comments

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Immigrant Women Who Changed the World by Elena Favilli

5 out of 5 💪Girl Power International Another tome of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls shows 100 portraits of female immigrants that made their impact on the world. I liked the variety of representation that doesn't focus on the United States and the UK. On the same note, the book shows women from both the past and the ones currently living, both young and old with all skin colors and background history. Each person is represented with a brief description, their immigration route, and a beautiful portrait - each painted by the different talented artists. I greatly admired that eclectic design idea. Overall, this is another great gift for brave young girls and women. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Rebel Girls for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own.

Songbird

by Ingrid Laguna 4.5 out of 5 🌟A wonderful and emotional story about hope ‘Songbird’ is a name Jamila was called by her best friend Mina back in Baghdad, Iraq. Now she is in Australia, a new country away from her friends and family, speaking a foreign language she doesn’t fully understand. Jamila is trying hard to succeed in school and fit in among her peers despite all difficulties. Singing is her way to escape from troubles, allowing her to be happy and careless again. Jamila’s life is hardly resembling all other middle-grade stories, telling about fear, war, and longing for a missing family member whose whereabouts are unknown. Her experience shows the everyday struggle of thousands of children that often goes unnoticed by colleagues and teachers. The story was captivating and deeply emotional, I felt Jamila's pain when she struggles to communicate and was missing her loved ones abroad. My personal experience as an immigrant is very different from hers but I know ...

Queens of the Resistance: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by Brenda Jones and Krishan Trotman

4 out of 5 💪"...She's still Alex from the block 🎶" 'Queens of the Resistance' is a series of books about modern-day politicians committed to making an impact on our everyday lives. Also, to change the existing administrative model to be more inclusive and welcome for every gender and skin color. These Queens are concerned about racial justice, everyday problems of undocumented Americans, and climate change. The volume about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells the story of AOC since the very beginning, including her childhood through the first steps in politics to her plans for the future. The book is strongly biased but that something the one can guess just by the title. It made my roll my eyes ones or twice in the first chapters but the farthest in the book, the more concrete data, and stories. I enjoyed the background story of Alexandria and all the badass stuff she's done (so far!). The biggest advantage of the series is language, pure gen Z / millennial slang...

What would Ula read?

Search This Blog