Summary?
Sixteen-year-old Elle falls in love with Frank, the neighbor who helps her adjust to being on her own in a big city, but learning that he is transgendered turns her world upside down.
Why Did I Read It? I've been slowly putting together a LGBTQ (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/questioning) list for my library's teen bibliography page, and the summary sounded intriguing.
What I Thought...
The Elle that begins this story of self-discovery is messed up, but not through much fault of her own. Her wealthy mother is in love with a man who doesn't want a teenager in the house, so Elle's mother moves her across town into an apartment of her own, just days before her 16th birthday. Elle, while feeling betrayed, is also unsurprised, as she's always felt that her thin, appearance-obsessed mother dislikes Elle for being ugly rather than beautiful, as preferred.
The day she moves in, Elle meets Frank, a young, thirty-ish neighbor next door and is immediately disarmed by his kindness. As she begins a tentative friendship with Frank and his girlfriend Molly, Elle finds herself developing a HUGE crush, despite the inappropriateness and complete lack of romantic encouragement from Frank. As Elle is making few friends at her new school, Frank's friendship becomes vital, so when she discovers that Frank is trangendered - female to male - Elle's realization of what that might say about her own sexuality shatters her.
Elle coming to terms with all her feelings - and the support of Frank, Molly and the small group of outcasts from school that befriend her is what makes this novel so compelling. It's a very quick read, but Elle's introspection - as well as her honesty about her fear and discomfort in realizing she's fallen in love with someone who was once a woman, is very realistic. Her friends are, for the most part, well-rounded characters, with definite issues of their own and all of whom envy Elle's independence. Of course, they (realistically) never think about what Elle's mother's readily moving her out could feel like for Elle - a response I think many teenagers would have.
The only issue I had with this book was with Elle's repeated protestations that "I'm not gay!" That she would feel this way, and feel the need to assure others is understandable (as she clearly doesn't want to identify herself as such at first, and frankly, never quite gets to that point, though this is a distinction I am not really clear on, to be fair). However, after awhile, it felt more like the author was hitting me over the head with "methinks the lady doth protest too much." Soon I began replying to Elle's protests with a mental, "yeah, yeah, I GET it. Can we move on with her personal growth, now?"
Overall, I really enjoyed this quiet, introspective book, and recommend it highly, and not just to those interested in LGBTQ fiction.
Recommended to anyone looking for a well-written coming-of-age story.
YA Reading Challenge Count: 3
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