i read this for the first time when i was 19 and it shaped me so much. every time i’ve revisited it, i get something else out of it. a triumphant exploration of pain both physical and emotional, identity, morality, violence, and tenderness
“I discover a journey not identical to my life’s path, and yet blazed with the intimate familiarity of my own lived experience. I locate theory—the way it is lived— in motion and in interconnection. Not hard to understand; hard to live.“
- Leslie Feinberg (10th anniversary edition)
heartwrenching from start to finish. a warm hug for someone like me.
i can’t really criticize the writing of this book, just because it’s the uniqueness and importance of this story that sets it apart. it is a story that absolutely needed to be written. what’s even more amazing is that such simple writing could capture the lived intricacies of gender and sexuality in so many shades.
i had never felt seen like this.
today i found myself moved to tears by various excerpts of autobiography of red & as a young girl i have related to eros the bittersweet more than most if not all coming of age novel… her interviews poems essays translations all make me feel so much
I mean first of all look at that cover. But second third fourth fifth sixth seventh and beyond -
I have never read a book like this. Heady, tender, animated, fascinating, deeply sad, a strange hodge podge of fonversation and dreamlike occurrence. For anyone who needs to be reminded that it’s ok to be in chronic pain - especially chronic physical pain - and your way of coping is a heroic act. It is a part of you. Also hates on the ultra rich atheistic establishment in a way that rocks. This writer is so brilliant. We’re lucky to have her.
