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Book Reviewed by:An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.
Erica Skyberg is thirty-five years old, recently divorced―and trans. Not that she's told anyone yet. Mitchell, South Dakota, isn't exactly bursting with other trans women. Instead, she keeps to herself, teaching by day and directing community theater by night. That is, until Abigail Hawkes enters her orbit.
Abigail is seventeen, Mitchell High's resident political dissident and Only Trans Girl. It's a role she plays faultlessly, albeit a little reluctantly. She's also annoyed by the idea of spending her senior year secretly guiding her English teacher through her transition. But Abigail remembers the uncertainty―and loneliness―that comes with it. Besides, Erica isn't the only one struggling to shed the weight of others' expectations.
As their unlikely friendship evolves, it comes under the scrutiny of their community. And soon, both women―and those closest to them―are forced to ask: Who are we if we choose to hide ourselves? What happens once we disappear into the woodwork?
Detransition Baby meets Fleishman is in Trouble in this remarkable debut novel from an incisive contemporary voice. A story about the awkwardness of growing up and the greatest love story of all, that between us and our friends, Woodworking is a tonic for the moment and a celebration of womanhood in all its multifaceted joy.
The trans characters' attempts to find and build their own support network, as well as their genuine (and in many cases, fully justified) fears of coming out in an environment that is unfriendly at best and terrifyingly unsafe at worst, feel authentic, and although the trajectory for most characters is positive, that's definitely not the case for everyone. Erica's gradual, halting, and sometimes messy process of transitioning also rings true, a much bigger undertaking than "simply" publicly affirming your gender: "To say 'I'm a woman' is simply to lump yourself in with another four billion or so people. It's another thing altogether to figure out who you are, and that is where Erica keeps getting tripped up."..continued
Full Review
(761 words)
(Reviewed by Norah Piehl).
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In Emily St. James's debut novel, Woodworking, the protagonist, Erica, must travel more than an hour each way, from Mitchell to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to attend a support group for transgender people. The group is small—seven people is "a good turnout"—but it's there, and over the course of the book, the group's existence gains importance for Erica and other trans characters. At a time when trans rights are increasingly threatened, it's important to remember that there are groups like Erica's, as well as larger, more established organizations serving transgender youth and adults throughout rural areas and in red states. Here are just a few doing this important work:
TransVisible Montana
Montana, the fourth ...
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by Jordy Rosenberg
Published 2019
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Lydia Kiesling, bestselling author of Mobility
Woodworking is a moving and big-hearted novel about people finding community as they find themselves―a reminder that coming of age can happen at any age. I loved these characters and the connections they formed. This is a tender, funny, page-turning story about trans women finding their way, in a world that needs all the softness and humor it can get.
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