Inquisitive and expansive, Like a Boy but Not a Boy
explores author andrea bennett's experiences with gender expectations, being a
non-binary parent, and the sometimes funny and sometimes difficult task of living in
a body. The book's fourteen essays also delve incisively into the
interconnected themes of mental illness, mortality, creative work, class, and
bike mechanics (apparently you can learn a lot about yourself through trueing a
wheel).
In "Tomboy,"
andrea articulates what it means to live in a gender in-between space, and why
one might be necessary; "37 Jobs 21 Houses" interrogates the notion that the
key to a better life is working hard and moving house. And interspersed
throughout the book is "Everyone Is Sober and No One Can Drive," sixteen
stories about queer millennials who grew up and came of age in small Canadian
communities.
With the same
poignant spirit as Ivan Coyote's Tomboy
Survival Guide, Like a Boy addresses the struggle to find
acceptance, and to accept oneself; and how one can find one's place while
learning to make space for others. The book also wonders what it means to be an
atheist and search for faith that everything will be okay; what it means to
learn how to love life even as you obsess over its brevity; and how to give
birth, to bring new life, at what feels like the end of the world.
With thoughtfulness and acute observation, andrea bennett reveals intimate
truths about the human experience, whether one is outside the gender binary or
not.
