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...

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 truing 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 communities.

With the same poignant spirit as Ivan Coyote's Tomboy Survival Guide, Like a Boy but Not 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 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 reveal intimate truths about the human experience, whether one is outside the gender binary or not.

Author: Andrea Bennett
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Published: 10/20/2020
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 7.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781551528212


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2020
Foreword 08/26/2020
Publishers Weekly 10/26/2020

About the Author
andrea bennett is a National Magazine Award-winning writer and editor and the author of one book of poetry (Canoodlers, Nightwood Editions) and two travel guides (Montreal and Quebec City, Moon Guides). Like a Boy but Not a Boy is andrea's first book of essays.