I needed this after More Than Two left me feeling scared, broken, and more than a little hopeless. I wish that more people would write about polyamory with Clementine Morrigan's honesty and compassion.

Like a rambly, messy conversation with a rambly, messy friend. The section about her attempts to craft the most self-deprecating dating profile possible so as to avoid disappointing people at in-person meetings was hilarious and relatable. I like Nagata Kabi a lot and wish good things for her; I also kind of wish that I could be her friend, but as that will never happen, I'll just read any autobiographical manga she publishes to see how she's been faring.

I thought that I would tear through this book after the first couple of chapters, but it turned into a much slower read. I feel like I need to talk about this book to someone in person, because all my thoughts are half-formed and I’m unsure how I feel about some aspects of it. But overall, I found it really interesting in the ways it attempts to deconstruct the thriller/mystery genre and critique true crime. Would be a good pick for someone who wants to read crime fiction that isn’t too gory or sensationalized, and who likes introspective and character-driven novels.

There is a plot point I wasn’t fond of, but by the end I liked the protagonist so much that I couldn’t help but rate this highly. So much tension, emotion, social commentary, and medical drama packed into such a short book.

A lesbian historical novel very much in conversation with the Gothic canon, set in a spooky mansion filled with taxidermy, shadows, and talk of ghosts.

This book is a queerbaity, girlbossy mess, but I couldn’t stop reading it.

Gender Queer had been vaguely on my radar for awhile, but the efforts of various pearl-clutchers to ban it from schools increased my motivation to read it. What I found was largely what I expected: a vulnerable, honest, and at times euphoric memoir of the author's experiences exploring eir gender and finding the nonbinary identity that fits em. Kobabe's voice is approachable and friendly, eir art solid and clean and a pleasure to look at. The section about em grappling with whether or not to come out to eir students felt powerful, and a good example of why books like this should exist. Because there might be a nonbinary kid who's scared, confused, and silent, thinking that they're broken, without any words for what they feel, and all it would take for them to start feeling more comfortable might be to see an adult they an relate to, thriving. Same for any trans kid, any queer kid.

Honestly, I don't know that reading Gender Queer has equipped me to more effectively counter assertions that it and other queer lit is pornographic or grooms children, because those assertions are not made from a place of understanding the text, or even caring about the text. Those assertions are a game of telephone started by groups seeking to gain political power and continued by the gullible, small-minded, and scared. Arguing with them seems like a time-wasting trap. But I did enjoy Gender Queer a lot, which feels like a win.

Rating 5 stars to balance out some of the bad faith 1-stars on here. For full disclosure, I do think that the structure gets a bit too loose toward the end, and I wish that there had been some contextualization of the concept of autoandrophilia (and its counterpart, autogynephilia) and how some people use the idea of trans people being fetishists to assert that they should not transition or have access to gender-affirming care.