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I kind of wish this book didn’t have to exist, but I’m glad that it does. If we’re going to face down the constant attacks on trans people’s rights and safety, and if we’re going to win, we need allies. And one of the best-selling authors of women’s fiction teaming up with a trans woman to write a book that educates cis people who need hand-holding through trans 101, and tricks them into learning with a tense courtroom drama/family saga? That seems like a way to get some people who’ve never thought about trans people before on the good side. If it can get some soccer moms with Moms for Liberty and Fox News in their ear to pause for long enough to develop empathy for trans kids and decide to stand up for them, great! That needs to happen!
I could sit here and discuss the parts of Mad Honey that I didn’t think were perfect, but… I’m not the target audience. I’ve been in a relationship with a trans woman for years. I’m in a queer book club. I’m probably annoyingly loud about trans issues on a daily basis. So the things that I might point out are not going to register for the ideal reader of this book, who is a straight cis woman confused about what puberty blockers are. That woman is not thinking “Hey, this book doesn’t represent the experiences of all the politically engaged trans lesbians I know!” She doesn’t know any trans lesbians, politically engaged or not! She’s not thinking “I might have dialed this back a little because there are already so many depictions of trans suffering out there.” She probably hasn’t seen that many.
So I appreciate this book’s educational focus, and I appreciate the afterword, which explains the genesis of the book in a dream Jennifer Finney Boylan had, addresses some of my concerns about this being yet another story about a dead trans person, and establishes that Jodi Picoult has no time for TERFs unless it’s to rebuke them.
And focusing purely on enjoyment, I found the plot really compelling! There’s a lot of emotion and tension that kept me reading, and I plan to try another Jodi Picoult. What can I say? I love reading about characters with problems.
I could sit here and discuss the parts of Mad Honey that I didn’t think were perfect, but… I’m not the target audience. I’ve been in a relationship with a trans woman for years. I’m in a queer book club. I’m probably annoyingly loud about trans issues on a daily basis. So the things that I might point out are not going to register for the ideal reader of this book, who is a straight cis woman confused about what puberty blockers are. That woman is not thinking “Hey, this book doesn’t represent the experiences of all the politically engaged trans lesbians I know!” She doesn’t know any trans lesbians, politically engaged or not! She’s not thinking “I might have dialed this back a little because there are already so many depictions of trans suffering out there.” She probably hasn’t seen that many.
So I appreciate this book’s educational focus, and I appreciate the afterword, which explains the genesis of the book in a dream Jennifer Finney Boylan had, addresses some of my concerns about this being yet another story about a dead trans person, and establishes that Jodi Picoult has no time for TERFs unless it’s to rebuke them.
And focusing purely on enjoyment, I found the plot really compelling! There’s a lot of emotion and tension that kept me reading, and I plan to try another Jodi Picoult. What can I say? I love reading about characters with problems.