She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders

I only know Jennifer Finney Boylan because I saw I Am Cait, and she seemed like the conscience of the reality show. Once I realized that Boylan is an academic who has written books about her experiences, I decided to look at her bibliography and decided to read She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders first. She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders is a memoir about her transition.
Forget the trans issues, She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders feels more like magical realism than any other memoir that I ever read. Dead people appear. Human sized bunnies take photos on ferries. People play cards during hurricanes. People hurl themselves off of cliffs unharmed. It took me a long time to finish reading She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders because for a long time, I kept wondering if I had accidentally picked one of Boylan’s fictional books instead of her memoir and was trying to wrap my head around what was happening.
She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders actually becomes more rooted in reality when her body begins to transform, and Boylan’s professorial side emerges as she teaches her family, friends and colleagues about transgenderism and meditates on issues of identity and self. While no transition is easy, Boylan does not dwell on the ways that she was rejected, but rather the sudden difficulties of being a woman: sexual harassment, feeling vulnerable, challenges in maintaining relationships with people who knew her when she was presenting as male.
I’m glad that I saw Boylan before reading her book. I could imagine her reading the book to me, and her expressions during certain conversations represented in She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders. It was nice to have lunch next to an artificial pond, imagine her sitting at the bench and telling her story.