Canary

by Canary Conn

Vintage paperback

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Transgender, Memoir, Biography

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[smcdonaldpoet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book is one of the main reasons I made it out of my "transolescence" alive. Miss Conn was an inspiration and having her words to read again and again gave me enough hope to move forward and I could never, ever thank her enough.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the relatively early (though far from the earliest) American trans memoirs. And one which received fairly wide printing. However, I don't find it to be among the more insightful, even on the specific personal journey it describes.

It is, first of all, a relatively blow-by-blow factual account of Canary's journey, with very little contemplative emotional engagement on the part of the author in her own journey. Horrific events are described, in a surprisingly dispassionate and matter-of-fact manner which seems strangely unreflective.

Another problem is just that Canary doesn't really make a great deal in the way of fruitful or lasting connections to the gay scenes or the transgender communities of the day. And this has a couple implications. First, that her journey doesn't particularly inform on the broader picture of her era for people like her, since she didn't engage much with that larger community. And second, that due to her relative ignorance of gay and trans culture and history and medicine of her own day itself, she isn't very good at describing or responding sensibly to her interactions with gay and trans culture when they do happen.

This is a biography which falls into an odd niche, as the story of an average transsexual of the 60s era who is notable if anything specifically for her relative naivety and ignorance of transsexual culture and knowledge of her own time. I don't think that is without value. However, I will say that naive obliviousness and shallowness of personal insight are seldom sought-after traits, in historical memoir writers.

[Anna L · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard about this book on a podcast, and I was fascinated by Canary’s self expression in interviews. I have to say, while the book is a great description of someone’s trans journey, I found myself getting hung up on outdated language and terminology, especially the constant conflation of gender and sexuality. I find Ms. Conn very determined and self assured in her drive to find a solution to her gender dysphoria, especially for someone so young in 1968, which is practically the stone ages of psychiatry and gender studies, and I do want to know more about her life, especially because there are a few inconsistencies between the memoir and an interview from around the same time frame I heard on a podcast.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book charts the transition of Canary Conn. I became interested in reading this autobiography after seeing it on an Oprah article of
115 LGBTQ Authors Share the Books that Changed Their Lives. There's a lot more visibility within the trans community today and I wanted to read a story from a time in which trans lives were less than celebrated from the source. It was interesting to read what still resonates today and how attitudes have changed.

She finds herself struggling to make ends meet and lives in constant fear of being discovered for who she is or being outed by someone she had confided in and becoming the topic of discussion at the office or other social gathering. At the conclusion of the book, she's working as a journalist, but Canary seemed to disappear. I (and others) wonder what happened to Canary? #WheredidCanaryGo

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a marvelous autobiography about the experiences of a MtF transsexual in the 1970s, going into detail about the author's thoughts/feelings as well as people's responses to the author as a person in various stages of the transition.

A little challenging for me were the highly normative gender role expectations. I think that was likely because these situations took place in a society thirtysomething years ago (with all that this entailed). Plus the author's own non-radical views on gender roles, which was in spite of his own complex experience of gender (including a change which is non-normative in most all societies) -- but those are not contradictory (i.e. a person could believe they are actually a man instead of a woman, and also have more conservative beliefs about what men or women should do (/how to behave) in society). It was just that the more limited gender role expectations were more difficult for me to read, especially in light of the author's resulting views about queer folks and their relationships.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good representation (I think!)of transexuals as real people. I have to say that the author is kind of a narcissist, but whatever.

[Karen Edwards]

I think that no matter what a person does on the outside, they are still what they are on the inside.