My Brother's Name is Jessica

Product Information

Another wrote “Boycott @john-boyne and his new ‘novel’‘My Brother’s Name is Jessica’ in which his transphobic main character PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS a trans woman and this action is never condemned. Disgusting for an LGBT author to throw us under the bus like this. SHAME.” The only time I refer to people as being cis is when discussing trans issues,” Martin has written in The Irish Times. “This is to distinguish them from transgender and non-binary people. Before I knew what had been going on behind the scenes, I would say absolutely read this book. Now, I would say consider it, but be aware of the transphobia. Don’t use this as a source of what it’s like to be transgender, and take what you read with a grain of salt. I mean, trans people in general have the highest suicide, murder, and rape statistics. It’s horrifying, and throughout the book I was worried for her. Boyne is the author of 17 novels for adults and children with Striped Pyjamas, adapted in to a film, being his most famous.

My Take: “My Brother’s Name is Jessica” by John Boyne My Take: “My Brother’s Name is Jessica” by John Boyne

Although Jason is reasonably intelligent and should have been able to anticipate their reaction, he is also a typically selfish member of ‘Generation Z’ and it just doesn’t occur to him to wait until he is through his exams and being cosetted in one of those safe spaces laughingly known as a ‘university’ – and his mother ensconced at 10 Downing Street – before coming out as transgender, instead of doing so at the worst possible time for himself and everyone else. If only he’d waited, there would have been no story for John Boyne to tell and we would have been spared the excruciating final chapter where, in the tradition of all the dreariest fairy tales, we learn that everything has turned out perfectly, however far-fetched it seems. In an article published on April 13th in The Irish Times, titled “Why I support trans rights but reject the word ‘cis,'” Boyne wrote “it will probably make some unhappy to know that I reject the word ‘cis,’ the term given by transgender people to their nontransgender brethren. I don’t consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man.”As I write for LGBTQIA+ young adults, seeing this book at my local bookshop, with its beautiful rainbow pattern, was pretty exciting. I haven’t seen a lot of young adult literature that is so open with having a transgender character, and I was looking forward to seeing how the character was represented. Lately, Jason has been growing his hair out a bit, and it’s staring to look quite feminine. He’s been a bit distant lately, and Sam misses how close they were. I don’t recall any mention of the fact that gender dysphoria is not necessarily permanent and many teenagers get through it and become reconciled to being their biological sex. Nor is there any mention that some people of all ages live to regret their transition and end up detransitioning, some having already gone through irreversible physical changes.

You were right on trans issues, author tells Father Ted

Yesterday I bought and read My Brother’s Name is Jessica by John Boyne (2019), who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006). He said he had written books about the Holocaust, first world war soldiers, the Russian revolution and the Bounty. “I’ve never been to any of those places, I’ve never done any of those things and nobody ever criticised me for it. If we say we can only write about our own experiences, the corollary of that, for example, is that a transgender writer can only write about transgender characters. I had concerns, prompted by the title, as it seemed to be misgendering. How this would translate in the rest of the book was a bit of a mystery. I was worried about the protagonist deadnaming his sibling and how this would be done. I don’t consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man,” he wrote. “For while I will happily employ any term that a person feels best defines them, whether that be transgender, nonbinary or gender fluid, to name but a few, I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term on to another.”Jason’s parents and Sam are horrified when he breaks the news to them about what I suppose trans ideologues would call his “authentic self”, a period of conflict ensues and Jason leaves the family home to go and live with his indulgent and eccentric aunt, where he is free to become ‘Jessica’. This book was excellent as a way to speak to people of all ages. The topic of gender was broached well for young people, young adults, and adults. It talked about the complex issues surrounding it, acceptance, and difficulties, while also being an easy, upbeat read. As a long-term ally and supporter of trans people, and the author of a new novel that seeks to help young people embrace both their own identities and the identities of their friends, I’ve been appalled by the response of people on social media towards both my Irish Times article and a book that not a single one of them has even read, since it’s not published until Thursday.”