One a Girl, Always a Boy by Jo Ivester

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own. 

About the book-

Jeremy Ivester is a transgender man. Thirty years ago, his parents welcomed him into the world as what they thought was their daughter. As a child, he preferred the toys and games our society views as masculine. He kept his hair short and wore boys’ clothing. They called him a tomboy. That’s what he called himself.

By high school, when he showed no interest in flirting, his parents thought he might be lesbian. At twenty, he wondered if he was asexual. At twenty-three, he surgically removed his breasts. A year later, he began taking the hormones that would lower his voice and give him a beard—and he announced his new name and pronouns.

Once a Girl, Always a Boy is Jeremy’s journey from childhood through coming out as transgender and eventually emerging as an advocate for the transgender community. This is not only Jeremy’s story but also that of his family, told from multiple perspectives—those of the siblings who struggled to understand the brother they once saw as a sister, and of the parents who ultimately joined him in the battle against discrimination. This is a story of acceptance in a world not quite ready to accept.

My thoughts

I love to read memoirs and biographies, especially about compelling life stories. Jeremy Ivester's story was both heartwarming and gut wrenching at time, watching him struggle to come to terms with who he is. The absolute best thing about this book, written by Jeremy's mother, is that even when they strugggled through it at times, ultimately Jeremy's parents always supported whatever he wanted to do in his life to make himself feel more like himself. I also liked that several family members wrote smaller pieces througout the book, giving the family memoir a more well rounded voice and to give the reader a chance to see multiple points of view of the Ivester family as they grow and learn with Jeremy throughout his journey. It was hard to read through some of the struggles Jeremy had to go through at all of the different stages of his life to get where he is today. I can not imagine the bravery it took, even with support, to be able to say this is who I am, and this is what I need to do to be myself. I thought this was a great book that I would recommend to anyone, especially someone (like me) who may want to learn more about what it's like to be a transgender person to better empathize with those in the transgender community.