I got quite caught up in this book; I almost read the whole thing in one sitting.
I have not read a book from the pov of someone transitioning from one gender to the other. I liked that, while that was a very important part of the book, it wasn't the entire focus of it.
Jess, the narrator, is transitioning from male to female. She has been taking hormones for the past 7 months, ever since she turned 18. Her estranged father had refused to give consent for her to do it before that. Now her father is getting married and she has decided, even after RSVPing no, that she was going to go. As herself. She had some vague plans to make him look at her and see her for who she really is.
The road trip was the idea of her best friend, Chunk. Not surprisingly, given the nickname, Chunk (real name Chuck) is overweight. There is never an explicit mention of how overweight he is, but it was enough to get him picked on all through school. He is also brilliant, like over genius level. When he proposes the trip, Jess decides that it might be a good idea. And it would allow her to really start living as a female. Up to this point she had only come out to her mother and Chunk.
There is a lot to this book. Some of the other reviews I read mentioned that they felt the author did a really poor job of representing fat people. I think that it could have been gone into more deeply, but that would have made this a different book. Jess has to confront her issues with physicality be it hers to other's. I believe that was what the author was aiming for. At least that's the way I saw it.
Bottom line, I would recommend the book for older students.
I received a free electronic ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
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