I just want to make a quick disclaimer at the beginning of this post. I am not Transgender and do not see myself as a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The author of this book is also not Transgender, however in her author's note at the end of the book she does discuss her interviews with and connections to the community. I cannot comment on the accuracy of the depictions of Trans characters, but I can comment on the messages portrayed through the story and share my own personal views of those messages. In reading posts on Goodreads and through other communications made by other readers of this book, I can see that there were mixed reviews about this story. Whether or not the readers and reviewers were stating their opinions as members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is not always known. It is my personal belief that the best case scenario is when an author writes from an own voices perspective, but sometimes authors can share an important story and message without being part of the community being written about. A reviewer who is also not from that community cannot necessarily give an accurate critique of the issues faced by a community. I did really enjoy this book and it gave me an opportunity to think about issues that I may not have thought about before, so the following review is positive and I appreciate having been able to read this story.
Two Truths and a Guy
Jeannine Henvey
Quick Synopsis:
Peter and Stella may be twins, but individually their struggles are one of a kind. From the outside, they seem like two kids just trying to find their way at a new school, but behind closed doors they deal with the emotional baggage from the past they've yet to unpack. Beauty queen Mom counts Stella’s every calorie rather than deal with Peter's transition. And even though Dad supports Peter’s true self, he’s blind to seeing Stella for who she really is. She just wants to be a teenage girl known for anything other than her sibling. Meanwhile, with a skin-tight binder around his chest, and eagerness to fit in with his classmates, Peter feels like he’s suffocating. All this, just to have his outside match his inside––and simply be. If anyone learns their secret, the family’s sacrifice of moving to California will have been for nothing.
This YA novel alternates between two main characters point of views. Stella and Peter are twins who have recently moved to California from their less progressive home state (I believe it was Pennsylvania). As a family they have decided to have a fresh start and so the twins will be attending a new school in their new state. Both twins are eager to leave their past behind, but also are nervous that Peter's secret may come out at any time, outing him as transgender, and potentially bringing the past traumas the family experienced in their former home town to their new community. While the primary focus of the story is Peter and the difficulties he faces as a teenager navigating a world where he is rarely seen for who he truly is, there are also storylines related to the challenges family members of transgender people face, and other important issues such as sibling death, grief, homophobia, discrimination, eating disorders/body image issues, and mental heath. Peter and Stella quickly learn that when you are hiding a part of yourself or your past, it doesn't matter where you move, those problems still follow you. That being said, the move was probably a good thing considering some of the vast differences in medical policy and law when it comes to transgender youth in different states. Either way, the lesson the twins learn is that being your authentic self is important and hiding who you are to protect others can be dangerous and impact your own health and safety.
I really liked the way Henvey was able to weave in so many ideas related to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in this story. She included things like: washrooms and change rooms, gendered sports teams, parents accepting and not accepting children who come out to them, clothing and binders, discrimination and harassment, medical treatment during and after transition, suicide and mental health concerns, being outed by people you thought were friends and so many others. I also liked that there were lots of regular YA topics such as: dating/kissing/crushes (nothing more than PG lol), dances and school clubs, bullying and peer pressure, sibling and parent issues and social media. I would be comfortable recommending this YA to teen readers, but would warn them about some of the discriminatory language. I also think that they many YA readers would enjoy the story and potentially learn a bit more about the challenges other people face. As far as recommending it as an LQBTQ novel, I would say it definitely has opportunities to teach important things to readers, but I would want to hear from other members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community before personally recommending it as such.
I think that the main problems most reviewers found with this story relate to: deadnaming and pronoun issues, victim blaming, homophobic language, and the way Stella's issues were portrayed. I will try to speak to these issues a little bit here, but as mentioned in my disclaimer, I am certainly no expert in these areas. Deadnaming is when someone calls a transgender person by the name they had prior to transitioning. While this can be done accidentally, it can also be done intentionally, and in both cases it can be very painful for the person being named. This happens frequently throughout the story and to some readers this may cause discomfort. That being said, I can only imagine the feelings someone who is transgender must feel when this happens to them in their life. Sometimes authors need to make readers a little uncomfortable to tell a story and I believe that this was Henvey's intent. Even though societal acceptance may be growing for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, there is a lot of hate and lack of understanding out there and unfortunately deadnaming, misgendering and incorrect use of pronouns are all examples of the problems people in the Trans community continue to face. In some situations in the story, Peter was blamed for the problems he faced which was not fair. This most commonly came from Stella. Homophobic language was often directed towards another character, but Peter also faced homophobic slurs despite not identifying as gay.
Stella's issues were probably the most frustrating part for some readers as Stella was often portrayed as having a "why me" type of reaction. I don't know if family members of transgender people experience frustration and wish they didn't have to adjust post-transition, I imagine that is something that happens to at least some family members, but I can tell you about a huge group of people who display "why me" reactions to any number of life's problems. They are this group of people whose prefrontal cortices have not fully developed, who have a lot of hormones, desire acceptance from their peers, feel that life is not fair and think that everyone else is out to ruin their lives. Have you heard of this group I'm describing? Maybe? They are called teenagers. And Stella happens to be one. She also is going through something. While it might not be as difficult as what Peter is experiencing, she is still facing: a new school, moving away from her friends, her parents are trying to force her to do things she doesn't want to do like play soccer and count calories, she is redefining her relationship with her twin (a special type of sibling bond that in itself can be difficult to navigate at times), learning about dating and relationships, and dealing with her own traumas related to the bullying she and Peter experienced in their old school. Any one of those things could make an average teenager wallow in their room with loud music and slamming doors in your average YA novel, so why isn't Stella allowed to experience these kind of feelings? I believe that Henvey was trying to tell a side of the story we don't often see. Don't get me wrong, Peter faced some really difficult challenges and will be facing many of them for the rest of his life, and there is no reason to minimize any of that. But if you're creating a teenage character who is facing all of those other things mentioned above and she just pretends to be the perfectly perfect sister, I think there would have been a lot of criticisms of that portrayal too. If this story was told solely from Peter's perspective, it may or may not have been appropriate to include some of Stella's storylines, but she was the other main character and I think that Henvey found the perfect balance between giving Stella's feelings a voice while remaining respectful of Peter's connection to the problems Stella faced. For example, it was not Peter's fault that Stella felt a loss of her twin sister, but those feelings are still something she experienced and are a challenge I'm sure many families face.
Thanks so much to Katie and Brey PA and the author for introducing me to this book and giving me the opportunity to read and review it. I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what Henvey comes out with in the future!