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Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by Anna-Marie McLemore
4.0
emotional reflective fast-paced

Another book I finished all in one day for the Trans Right Readathon (March 20-27 2023!) This Gatsy retelling casts Nick Carraway as Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old trans boy from Wisconsin. He wants to move to New York not for the glamour but because he has a head for numbers and wants to make money working on Walls Street to support his parents and establish himself as a man. His cousin Daisy finds him a cottage in West Egg, but when he reunions with Daisy he's shocked to realize she's passing as white and lying about her past to her sort-of fiancé, Tom, a man who pretends at tolerance while exhibiting casual racism. Then Nick meets his other neighbor, the infamous Jay Gatsby, who throws outrageous and extravagant parties but is more similar to Nick than most people can see. This retelling adds an insurance investigation about a missing $350,000 pearl necklace; a visit to an underground gay club; and cast full of queer characters, all trying to make some kind of safety or place for themselves in the world. I'd love to see this version added to school reading lists along side the original!