ARC BOOK REVIEW: How to Be A Girl by Marlo Mack
| Publisher: The Experiment |
Synopsis
Mama, something went wrong in your tummy. And it made me come out as a boy instead of a girl.
When Marlo Mack’s three-year-old utters these words, her world splits wide open. Friends and family, experts, and Marlo herself had long downplayed her “son’s” requests for pretty dresses and long hair as experimentation—as a phase—but that time is over. When little “M” begs, weeping, to be reborn, Marlo knows she has to start listening to her kid.
Review:
I got this book free from The Experiment through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Marlo Mack wrote a no holds barred honest book about raising her transgender daughter. Not understanding what was happening she found support groups, she grieved the child she thought she had born but also was elated with the child she had. Once she understood more what was happening she dove into this world head first and never looked back. She founded a blog that has touched many people and then moved on to a podcast. Through it all she researched and studied and advocated for her child and other people's children. She learned more about gender than she even believe there was to learn. No one calls her an expert because she is just a mom raising a daughter but who is more of an expert on how to raise a healthy, well adjusted, brave and proud daughter than Marlo who has questioned herself, her motives, her reality more often than most people think about it. Her sole focus was on being the best mom she could be for her child, and she has been.
As part of the LGBTQ community I applaud Mack's honest struggle and ultimate acceptance and will to learn something that most people don't even understand, especially back when her daughter was little. Transgender issues were just starting to be understood, and talked about. While it has been around forever it was never as front and center as it is today with major stars transitioning, and transgender actresses becoming more visible. Hopefully this book will help other families who are finding themselves parenting a transgender child, or help those in their family understand and accept it. Better yet maybe this book will just bring to light the struggle these children and families go through and hopefully create more empathy and understanding among everyone. We should all embrace differences, and accept people for who they are. I loved this book.
I also have to give props to Mack's daughter M, for being the amazing brave soul that she is. She knew who she was from the beginning and was her own best advocate. She didn't back down and she taught so many.
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