In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
I had to buy a book for university while I was at the Salon du Livre in early December, and this one really caught my eye. First, because it was a salon targeted towards children's literature and, okay, fair, this includes infants and goes into YA literature, but this comic tackles questions of gender and sexuality that people don't often approach in a space where children are included. Second, I had seen this comic in passing on the internet, so this was the perfect occasion to read it.
I'm not going to give a review saying "this is good, this is bad", I'm just gonna say that I think it's something eveyone should read. Maybe you don't think being non-binary is a thing, maybe you know it's a thing, maybe you're just curious. Maybe this comic won't change your views on non-binary people, maybe it will, maybe it'll change how you view yourself, but it's a great way to learn (more) about this identity. Like any story about queer experiences, this isn't the non-binary experience, it's an experience, but you have to start somewhere and this is a great starting point.
Please be mindful of potential triggers though, stay safe everyone!
French version under the cut
En 2014, Maia Kobabe, qui utilise les pronoms ille/lo*, pensait qu'une BD sur des statistiques de lecture serait la dernière BD autobiographique qu'ille écrirait jamais. A l'époque, c'était la seule chose qu'ille pensait pouvoir confortablement partager avec des étrangers. Maintenant, Genre Queer existe. L'autobiographie profondément cathartique de Maia retrace son cheminement dans sa quête d'identité, ce qui inclue l'humiliation et la confusion de liés aux béguins d'adolescents, le stress de comment faire son coming out auprès de sa famille et de la société, nouer des liens avec des amis grâce à la fanfiction érotique gay, et faire face au traumatisme des frottis. Initialement un moyen d'expliquer à sa famille ce qu'être non-binaire et asexuel veut dire, Genre Queer est plus qu'une histoire personnelle : c'est un guide utile et touchant sur l'identité de genre — ce que cela signifie et comment l'appréhender — pour des alliés, des amis et des humains n'importe où.
Je devais acheter un livre pour la fac quand j'étais au Salon du Livre début décembre, et celui-là m'a vraiment tapé dans l’œil. Premièrement, parce que c'était un salon qui cible la littérature jeunesse et, ok, c'est vrai, ça inclue les bambins et va jusqu'à la littérature YA, mais cette BD aborde des questions de genre et de sexualité que les gens n'abordent pas souvent dans des milieux en partie dédiés aux enfants. Deuxièmement, j'avais vu passer cette BD sur internet, donc c'était l'occasion parfaite de la lire.
Je vais pas faire une review pour dire "c'était bien, c'était pas bien", je vais juste dire que je pense que c'est quelque chose que tout le monde devrait lire. Peut-être que vous pensez que la non-binarité n'existe pas, peut-être que vous savez qu'elle existe, peut-être que vous êtes juste curieux. Peut-être que cette BD ne changera pas comment vous voyez les personnes non-binaires, peut-être que si, peut-être que ça changera comment vous vous voyez, mais c'est un bon moyen d'en apprendre (plus) sur cette identité. Comme toutes les histoires sur les expériences queer, il ne s'agit pas de L'Expérience non-binaire, juste d'UNE expérience, mais il faut bien commencer quelque part et cette BD est un bon début.
*j'ai utilisé ici les pronoms et accords établis par la traduction de Anne-Charlotte Husson suite à ses recherches et entretiens avec l'auteurice.
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Elsinore Robotics is on the cusp of a breakthrough—the company is poised to create the first humanoid androids powered by true artificial intelligence. Their only rival, Norwegian Technologies, lost a publicly streamed contest between their flagship model, Fortinbras, and Elsinore’s HAM(let) v.1.
But when the first Hamlet model is found irreparably deactivated, the apparent victim of wild malware, the field of consumer cybernetics is thrown wide open. However, Hamlet v.1’s memories were not entirely lost in the accident.
The seed of this story is excellent, there should definitely be more cyber-inspired Shakespearen retellings. It’s like gearing a well-oiled machine with new inventive features. The drama takes place among the c-suite of an android company, there is an open embrace of queerness, and the relationships are varied and non-conventional with robots thrown nto the mix.
It is worth reading for the interesting take alone. However, there were a few things in the execution that did not gel with me personally -- one to do with how the story was told. A lot more would have packed a punch if done by showing before telling, but it safely went with the other order. For example, Ophelia is declared to have deep platonic feelings for Hamlet before they even interact on page, and it is confirmed later on in their interaction. It would have kept me more engaged to see them play off of each other first and make that assumption, rather than be guided through character emotions by narration. It dispersed a lot of the character mystery.
Second note to make is on the same playing field, which would be dialogue. It is not heavy on delivery, yet, there are times when they exhibit language that comes across more poetic or old-timey than the context allows. It refers to the lines of the initial play, but the transition is not exactly seamless. Granted, there were genuinely sweet moments between characters, and sometimes the heightened language worked into their tandem. Coming from a different end of the spectrum, I found the Lion King scene to be, while a cool nod, quite comical; so that too resisted giving it all a consistent tone.
Having said that, I am quite curious to look into more of the author’s works, the ideas and the world are rather fascinating. The power-play withing a futuristic company is quite a premise, and their discussion on the differences between robotic and organic perception on life and relationships is something I would like to read more of!
I have received ARC in exchange for an honest review, courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher. Thank you.
im suddenly on a mission to completely fill my bookshelf with books written by women, poc women, lgbtq+ women, non binary people, or any variation of all of the above so if you scroll past this post and have something to offer please recommend😅
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