published by university of new orleans press (2019)
i have to give credit to the style of writing that alex myers has mastered, because it is a tricky and skillful balance between writing from a young person's perspective and using language and tone that is consistent with that, but staying out of YA territory that would avoid some of the heavier and potentially triggering scenes that are crucial to tell and honestly reflect the reality of being trans. there are moments where i feel he shifts a little further in one direction of that balance or the other; all the scenes of intimacy are exactly that. you get a description of the feelings and the little details like the smell of someone's hair or the hand on someone's waist, but otherwise, there's a sort of madrigal-style "falala" fill in the blanks where you can assume characters slept together. however, i love that ron is not a helpless person who just kind of lets things happen. he has very well-established aspirations and opinions, and he doesn't back down when the moment calls for it, while still being mature enough to choose his battles wisely.
i loved ron as a protagonist, i think he's one of my favourite trans protagonists in a fiction story that i can think of. he seems like someone i would genuinely be friends with. he's polite, sweet and thoughtful, he's gruff and strong, but overall he just has the desire to do right by himself. overall, i think the design of his character is what makes his story so effective; had someone more erratic or more passive been put in the same positions, i could find a million reasons to be frustrated with it or annoyed.
my highest praise for this book is that the characters, the protagonist most of all, feel like real people. i think i really adore and understand ron as a fully fleshed-out and realistic character because of how much alex myers puts himself into him. in the acknowledgements, he reveals that he himself went on a similar journey to the south to experience 'real manhood' or whatever that means, and because of his proximity to and experience in the content, every part of this story feels completely authentic. its why i can excuse the moments that feel almost "too innocent" in their descriptions; it feels a lot more authentic for a moment to fall flat, as the ending kind of was for example, than for it to be narratively satisfying and unrealistic.
the final thing i want to give praise to is the structure of the story. following ron's personal progression feels almost like a b-plot, and the a-plot is the people around him coming to see him as he is. as a transgender story, i think this is absolutely exceptional. without giving spoilers, i will say that finishing chapter 17 felt like a breath of fresh air, and chapter 18 was like the wind getting knocked out of me. i felt that the order of events and the big picture progression of the story made the reception of the characters, the setting, and the concept completely elevated and, i can't emphasize this enough, so incredibly authentic.
i loved this book a lot, and i adore alex myers for the way he uses fiction as a way to explore the "what if"; what if a trans man tried to live DL in rural wyoming? what if a knight was raised male while being born female? (i can't recommend that book enough for lovers of historical fiction). it brings me joy to explore these hypotheticals alongside myers, because it feels like we're having a discussion, as opposed to the power relationship of a story being told to an audience alex myers writes in a way that makes me feel his equal.
