like a boy but not a boy

Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood outside the Gender Binary

Essays darüber nicht-binär und Elternteil zu sein, über die Erwartungen anderer an Deine Geschlechterrolle als Elternteil, über Körperliches, übers Stillen und vieles mehr. Zwischen diesen autobiografischen Betrachtungen finden sich 16 Geschichten queerer, von andrea bennett interviewter Menschen der Generation Y, die in kleinen kanadischen Gemeinden aufgewachsen sind - darunter Menschen mit verschiedenen geschlechtlichen und sexuellen Orientierungen.

A revelatory book about gender, mental illness, parenting, mortality, bike mechanics, work, class, and the task of living in a body.

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.