The Art of Being Normal

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Jade-Colored Glasses: Leo's mother has these on at all times. Ironically, she plays a lot of bingo. The only thing i did not like about the book was that it is written in the present tense because for some reason that i do not know, i just cannot stand books written in the present tense. I made it through though so yassss bihh. Like many books being released lately, The Art of Being Normal uses a dual narrative technique, switching between the point of views of David and Leo. It reminded me a lot of Non Pratt’s novel, Trouble, in the sense that the point of view switches were snappy and seamless and both voices felt unique. I have to say I preferred Leo’s voice to David’s which was a bit of an issue for me, and there was nothing particularly unique or memorable about Williamson’s writing style for me to grab on to, but despite this, I still found myself consuming this novel at a rapid pace and finished it in just three days! Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Leo's mother is "tiny, built like a sparrow" but beat up Annette Bonner who, according to Leo at least, looks like The Terminator.

Forty-five. All on roller skates. Utter carnage,” Dad mutters grimly, ejecting the memory card from the camera and putting it into his laptop. The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson is a 2015 novel about a closeted 14-year old trans girl who befriends the new boy at her school. La novela se lee muy rápido, no tiene una lectura muy fácil porque es densa y la autora nos contextualiza mucho para entender bien qué es la transexualidad. Pero lo hace a la perfección, dejándonos ver cómo evoluciona una persona transexualidad que es consciente de su género.

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As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means. I Just Want to Be Normal: Kate almost says this word for word to Leo at the Mermaid Inn in Tripton. He disagrees. The book has a whole lot of misgendering, deadnaming and usage of the wrong pronouns and on top of that, there's bullying, transphobia and name calling and if that's not bad enough, here's some more. The Art of Being Normal is a deeply powerful, important story that also happens to be a blast to read. You’ll fall in love . . . right away, your heart will bleed at some moments and melt at others, and you’ll root for them until the bitter end.” —Bill Konigsberg, Stonewall Award–winning author of Openly Straight and The Porcupine of Truth Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: What Leo firmly believes for most of the book, but ultimately and heart-breakingly subverted.

However, me rating this book 3 stars doesn’t mean this book isn’t worth reading. We need stories like this to introduce trans issues to a broad public, and Williamson herself worked at a Gender Identity Development Service, so she certainly did her research for writing this book. David Piper has really never fit in. Apart from his two best friends, most of his fellow high school students ridicule him for being different. One of the school bullies has called him "Freak Show" since they were younger, but David is willing to wait him out until high school ends. His parents think he is gay, and are waiting for him to tell them. I'm Chiara, & welcome to Books for a Delicate Eternity! Here you’ll find posts on books, reading, life, art, & things in between (like cats). Loved the introductory exploration of trans issues in this book, even if it faltered in other areas. The Art of Being Normal follows two protagonists who both go to Eden Park School: Kate, who has always wanted to be a girl, and Leo Denten, an outsider with dark secrets of his own. Though the two seem quite different - Kate, more reserved and wistful, Leo, more moody and confrontational - a twist of fate brings them together in ways neither of them expect.Following graduation, Lisa adopted the stage name of Lisa Cassidy and spent several happy and chaotic years occasionally getting paid to pretend to be other people. Between acting roles she worked as an office temp and started making up stories all over again, only this time she had a go at writing them down. Anger Born of Worry: Aunt Kerry gives Leo a slap and furiously chews him out when he comes home after having been missing for two days. Me ha gustado muchísimo poder leer al fin una novela que trate el tema de la transexualidad. Si bien es cierto que últimamente algunas editoriales apuestan por los conflictos de la orientación sexual, esta es la primera novela que puedo leer con un protagonista transexualidad. La comunidad LGTBI* no está para nada asumida en la literatura, y si bien la comunidad gay es la más normalizada en la misma; la transexualidad sigue siendo un tema marginal. Evidentemente, no ya en la literatua, sino en la sociedad actual.

Laser-Guided Karma: Harry Beaumont is two seconds away from publically outing Kate in the middle of the school cafeteria when Leo intervenes and breaks his nose. Como digo si por algo se caracteriza esta novela es porque trata diversos temas que me parecen muy importantes y que hacen reflexionar. La pobreza y el abandono, por ejemplo, es uno de los temas que tienen más peso en la novela por uno de los dos protagonistas. Y además nos hace ver cómo la situación personal y el contexto en el que vivimos influyen en todas nuestras acciones diarias. El hecho de ser pobre y estar abandonado hace que Leo sea un niño conflictivo y que tenga salidas de tono que no son normales, por ejemplo.

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Platonic Life-Partners: Kate and Leo, while they grow very close, are more likely to become this than a couple. Strong Family Resemblance: Leo is pretty much a carbon copy of his Disappeared Dad. Kate also takes after her own father; understandably, she's not happy about it. When Leo (voluntarily) comes out to Kate, he does this by partly undressing and showing her his binder. As if there is no other way you can let another person know you are trans, except for showing your body. I cannot believe for a second a trans person would rather show (fairly) intimate parts of their body, than just saying "hey I'm also trans". Pet the Dog: Though Livvy's status as Kate's bratty younger sister is established pretty early on, she still gives her big sister a nice and thoughtful birthday present. Have you ever finished a book and thought…that it was IMPORTANT? That the story that’s being told is one that everyone should hear? That’s how I felt about “The Art of Being Normal”. I feel like everyone NEEDS to read this. It’s an important message about our society today. And it it’s just a damn fine book, too.

Overall, I did like The Art of Being Normal, although I felt like some things weren’t presented as well as they could have been. If you’re looking for your first book about a trans character, or you simply devour any and all LGBTQIA+ books, then I would still say give The Art of Being Normal a go. As I said before, I'm not trans and though I try my best to educate myself on trans issues but if you found anything I said in this review to be wrong or problematic or anything, please tell me and I'll try to do even better in the future.It's not the perfect book, but it's heartbreakingly beautiful, and emotional, and heartfelt. It's outstanding. On a meta level, and reportedly unitentionally, the two protagonists share their names with an iconic Hollywood duo. The Art of Being Normal was not what I had expected. I would say that this is a good introduction for someone who wants to know more about life as a transgender kid and adolescent. It is a heartfelt novel, for sure, but not a perfect one.