A very interesting memoir. Jennifer Boylan was born James, and as a man married Deidre and fathered two boys. This memoir gave glimpses of the family life as it changed, but also not changed, before and after the transition. As Jennifer said in closing, they are still a family who loves and cares for each other, so at the core, the change of gender seems almost like superficial. Not to mention that, amazingly or not, they are the only couple still married among many friends.

Besides Jennifer's personal memoir, this book also includes many interviews with different people on parenting. While at first glance it feels like a page filler, each tale brings a new perspective, as most of them are unusual stories. Like Ralph James Savarese who adopted an autistic son, Christine McGinn who used her own sperm as a man to have children after her transgender operation, Veronica Gerhardf who found out that the baby she was carrying had a serious genetic disorder.

When I started reading this memoir, one thing struck me: While you don't have to be an English professor to write a memoir, it certainly helps. A lot. I admit there are many interesting lives out there worth telling, but truth is, memoirs as a genre, probably more so than others, is plagued by badly written and poorly edited books. It was therefore very refreshing and enjoyable to come across a well written memoir.

Going into the Memoir Bookbox.