You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
horrorbutch 's review for:
Any Other City
by Hazel Jane Plante
My first read of this year and I'm happy that I got to start 2024 on such a high note!
It is a unique format of a fictional memoir being told split in two halves. Side A follows Tracy St. Cyr, a trans woman who hasn't realized she's trans yet, her coming of age in a small town before moving to a city, where she befriends a few transgender artists until she realizes she is trans herself and needs to do something before the city swallows her. Side B follows her years later as she returns to the city, now a famous front woman of a trans riot grrrl band and how she finds connection in the town again.
There are so many things I love about this story: The format, the fact that the author has a self insert as a fictional memoir writer, the female friendships, the dealing with trauma and healing from it through art and music, the sexy scenes (oh I loved the fisting and a trans woman uses a strap on here, which was incredible to read!) and the wonderful queernormativity and trans love everywhere but most importantly I loved the art. Oh the art described in this story! It is incredible and wonderful and astounding and it made me feel grief that I cannot visit the exhibits described here, cannot read the books or view the performances. This is a book that manages to describe fictional art with such detail and care that I found myself googling the art multiple times to see if this one at last would be art that actually exists.
The story is also told in the format of letters to Tracy's two exes, sometimes speaking directly to them and I really enjoyed this way of story telling. Definitely will be checking out more art by the author. I also listened to the audio book narrated by the author herself and I really adored that, especially since she effortlessly ages the character between Side A and Side B in a way that I found really intruiging.
All in all this is a love story to trans women and the art they create and I absolutely adored it.
TWs for self harm/suicide attempt, abusive relationships and dysphoria + related bad sex due to it.
It is a unique format of a fictional memoir being told split in two halves. Side A follows Tracy St. Cyr, a trans woman who hasn't realized she's trans yet, her coming of age in a small town before moving to a city, where she befriends a few transgender artists until she realizes she is trans herself and needs to do something before the city swallows her. Side B follows her years later as she returns to the city, now a famous front woman of a trans riot grrrl band and how she finds connection in the town again.
There are so many things I love about this story: The format, the fact that the author has a self insert as a fictional memoir writer, the female friendships, the dealing with trauma and healing from it through art and music, the sexy scenes (oh I loved the fisting and a trans woman uses a strap on here, which was incredible to read!) and the wonderful queernormativity and trans love everywhere but most importantly I loved the art. Oh the art described in this story! It is incredible and wonderful and astounding and it made me feel grief that I cannot visit the exhibits described here, cannot read the books or view the performances. This is a book that manages to describe fictional art with such detail and care that I found myself googling the art multiple times to see if this one at last would be art that actually exists.
The story is also told in the format of letters to Tracy's two exes, sometimes speaking directly to them and I really enjoyed this way of story telling. Definitely will be checking out more art by the author. I also listened to the audio book narrated by the author herself and I really adored that, especially since she effortlessly ages the character between Side A and Side B in a way that I found really intruiging.
All in all this is a love story to trans women and the art they create and I absolutely adored it.
TWs for self harm/suicide attempt, abusive relationships and dysphoria + related bad sex due to it.