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Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey
2014 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Non-Fiction Category.
2013 New England Book Festival Winner in the Gay Literature Category.
Chastity Bono is now Chaz. Her decision to "become" a man made headlines around the world, but she is not alone. Transgender men and women frequently appear on television talk shows and reality programs to share their stories. By doing so, they inevitably get the attention they seek, but not necessarily the kind of attention they want. While some come forth in an effort to promote tolerance, acceptance and understanding in mainstream society, their decision to live as or in some cases have surgery to become - the opposite gender often sparks curiosity and more visceral reactions born out of ignorance. But this is the other side of the story. Truth Be Adam Becomes Audrey is a tragedy, a comedy and a love story. It is my story. In vivid detail, I recall how I met, fell in love with and married the man of my dreams, only to find that he self-identified as and wanted to become a woman. Read what happened after I learned the truth. Originally from the New York City suburbs, Alexandra Bogdanovic is an award-winning reporter based in Connecticut. Her next book is based on her father's life as a staunch anti-Communist and political refugee in post-World War II Europe. Publisher's sbpra.com/AlexandraBogdanovic
2013 New England Book Festival Winner in the Gay Literature Category.
Chastity Bono is now Chaz. Her decision to "become" a man made headlines around the world, but she is not alone. Transgender men and women frequently appear on television talk shows and reality programs to share their stories. By doing so, they inevitably get the attention they seek, but not necessarily the kind of attention they want. While some come forth in an effort to promote tolerance, acceptance and understanding in mainstream society, their decision to live as or in some cases have surgery to become - the opposite gender often sparks curiosity and more visceral reactions born out of ignorance. But this is the other side of the story. Truth Be Adam Becomes Audrey is a tragedy, a comedy and a love story. It is my story. In vivid detail, I recall how I met, fell in love with and married the man of my dreams, only to find that he self-identified as and wanted to become a woman. Read what happened after I learned the truth. Originally from the New York City suburbs, Alexandra Bogdanovic is an award-winning reporter based in Connecticut. Her next book is based on her father's life as a staunch anti-Communist and political refugee in post-World War II Europe. Publisher's sbpra.com/AlexandraBogdanovic
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
174 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 2012
3 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Bogdanovic
2 books87 followersAlexandra Bogdanovic was born in Bronxville, N.Y. and grew up in Greenwich, Conn. She knew she wanted to be a reporter at age 12, and received her first byline in the Greenwich Time when she was a high school freshman. By the time she graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in 1987, she’d been covering high school sports for a daily newspaper for four years.
In 1991, Bogdanovic graduated from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in writing. She officially began her journalism career as an editorial assistant at The Advocate in Stamford, Conn., soon after graduation. After paying her dues at a daily newspaper, Bogdanovic decided to devote her efforts to community journalism in order to have a more direct and meaningful impact in the towns and villages where she worked.
Bogdanovic covered police, courts and municipal government at several weekly newspapers in the New York City suburbs from 1996 to 2003. As a reporter for The Sound Shore Review, she received recognition from New York Press Association for a story about poor emergency response to a bomb threat at an elementary school. One of her greatest challenges while working in Rye was covering the mutual aid response and local reaction to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11.
After receiving 10 Virginia Press Association awards for her work at a twice-weekly newspaper in Warrenton, Va., from 2004 to 2012, the veteran reporter returned to Connecticut.
She enjoys spending her free time with family and friends, chilling with her cat, Eli and watching and photographing high-goal polo.
In 1991, Bogdanovic graduated from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in writing. She officially began her journalism career as an editorial assistant at The Advocate in Stamford, Conn., soon after graduation. After paying her dues at a daily newspaper, Bogdanovic decided to devote her efforts to community journalism in order to have a more direct and meaningful impact in the towns and villages where she worked.
Bogdanovic covered police, courts and municipal government at several weekly newspapers in the New York City suburbs from 1996 to 2003. As a reporter for The Sound Shore Review, she received recognition from New York Press Association for a story about poor emergency response to a bomb threat at an elementary school. One of her greatest challenges while working in Rye was covering the mutual aid response and local reaction to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11.
After receiving 10 Virginia Press Association awards for her work at a twice-weekly newspaper in Warrenton, Va., from 2004 to 2012, the veteran reporter returned to Connecticut.
She enjoys spending her free time with family and friends, chilling with her cat, Eli and watching and photographing high-goal polo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 25, 2015
I am very disappointed after reading this book. Probably I had false expectations and that is the main reason I didn't enjoy it. I thought it would tell us how the couple coped with the situation, I thought it would be sensible, I thought there would be a little comedy? I have found none.
Like 40% are a retelling of how Alex and Adam/Audrey met. I found it rather boring. A lot of information about horseback riding and the words didn't really flow.
As soon as it is 'revealed' that Adam is not Adam but Audrey it got worse and worse. I understand if Alex uses the wrong pronouns when talking about Audrey because she was hurt and didn't really understand it. But right until the end there were always male pronouns and Audrey was still called Adam. I didn't like this.
Aside from that the second half of the book is a big pity party in my eyes. It's just.... a lot of venting? After reading the description I thought she would be at Audrey's side, but Audrey wasn't really a part of the second half. I know this book is supposed to show the other side but still. A lot of unnecessary comments made by her family and friends, too. I had the feeling everyone was more or less disgusted by Audrey and poor, poor Alex, who doesn't do anything wrong and is just a victim.
This changes a little at the end where the author says how mad she was.
I feel I should mention alcohol as a trigger and of course transphobia.
I got it as an ARC via NetGalley for free in exchange for a honest review. Thank you.
Like 40% are a retelling of how Alex and Adam/Audrey met. I found it rather boring. A lot of information about horseback riding and the words didn't really flow.
As soon as it is 'revealed' that Adam is not Adam but Audrey it got worse and worse. I understand if Alex uses the wrong pronouns when talking about Audrey because she was hurt and didn't really understand it. But right until the end there were always male pronouns and Audrey was still called Adam. I didn't like this.
Aside from that the second half of the book is a big pity party in my eyes. It's just.... a lot of venting? After reading the description I thought she would be at Audrey's side, but Audrey wasn't really a part of the second half. I know this book is supposed to show the other side but still. A lot of unnecessary comments made by her family and friends, too. I had the feeling everyone was more or less disgusted by Audrey and poor, poor Alex, who doesn't do anything wrong and is just a victim.
This changes a little at the end where the author says how mad she was.
I feel I should mention alcohol as a trigger and of course transphobia.
I got it as an ARC via NetGalley for free in exchange for a honest review. Thank you.
April 2, 2013
This book portrays the incredible journey that the author unwillingly and unhappily, is forced to take with her own life. In great detail she chronicles meeting the love of her life, marrying him, and busily, plans a future with him. However, as she looks forward to her new life centered around her husband and her marriage, it all falls apart when she learns a surprising and shocking truth about him. Told with incredible honesty, the author's life as she knows it, is turned completely and utterly upside down. While in shock and disbelief, the author finds it difficult to come to grips with the whole transgender process, while also having to start her own life anew.
This memoir was written with courage, sincerity, and truthfulness, and the author put it all out there for her readers. Learning the statistics of living life as a transgender was eye-opening, informative, as well as, incredibly sad to read. Despite the author's revealing candidness about her feelings, no one can really understand the hardship and loneliness that she experiences, unless they've been there themselves. This is an emotional and heartwrenching read about a subject, which seemingly is considered morally taboo by society. I hope that writing this memoir was cathartic for the author and that she has been able to move on with her life finding peace, forgiveness, and joy.
This memoir was written with courage, sincerity, and truthfulness, and the author put it all out there for her readers. Learning the statistics of living life as a transgender was eye-opening, informative, as well as, incredibly sad to read. Despite the author's revealing candidness about her feelings, no one can really understand the hardship and loneliness that she experiences, unless they've been there themselves. This is an emotional and heartwrenching read about a subject, which seemingly is considered morally taboo by society. I hope that writing this memoir was cathartic for the author and that she has been able to move on with her life finding peace, forgiveness, and joy.
July 16, 2013
I was intrigued by the subject matter of this book because of my own personal experiences. Sixteen years ago I initiated a few months' relationship with a woman I knew to be transsexual (male to female. I am lesbian). Nine years ago I asked out a woman I was attracted to, who revealed to me on our third date that she was male to female transsexual. I continued this relationship for a couple of months.
Because of these two experiences, I became fascinated by the subject of gender dysphoria, devouring anything I could find online. Because of the second, I became obsessed for some time with trying to read whether people might be transsexual.
So I approached this book with excitement, expecting to find a whole new dimension to a subject in which I had already had some experience. I wanted to read a soul-searching exploration of what attracts one person to another, how much it is a biological body, how much it is the person's being, where sexual attractiveness resides between the two, how Alex, a heterosexual woman, could be attracted to another woman (her husband, the biological male), and what biological sex, gender identity, and sexuality ultimately came to mean to Alex.
Did it once cross her mind to continue a sexual relationship once Adam became Audrey? (Is a person just a body? What if Adam had lost half his body in an accident? Was there any shade of homophobia involved in the author's reaction? Did Adam become obviously female, and therefore unattractive, following his disclosure?)
So, what I enjoyed most about this book were the episodes of intimate sharing. Where memoirs as a genre excel for me are the pages in which a writer lays herself bare, makes herself vulnerable, enables me to relax around my own weaknesses, and makes herself loveable to me because of that shared intimacy. Alex's story provides some of these moments (first sexual encounter with Adam, school life, father) and I lapped them up and I felt for her. But I wanted more.
I felt there was too much detail on background information, and not enough on what I'd come for. Was this perhaps a literary device to deliver a sense of the author's mistrust of the outside world, a shutting down, following her heart-break? Was it conscious or unconscious? How much more is there outside of this book that Alex is not sharing with us? I wanted to take the book and wring it to get what I came for.
Memoirs are always a privilege to read: a valuable, intimate insight into the life and mind of our fellow human beings. The opening of this story is heart-breaking: "How do you grieve for someone who isn't really dead?" And in closing, I was left really hoping that Alex throws herself back into life and finds herself a new lover. I was glad I read this book.
Because of these two experiences, I became fascinated by the subject of gender dysphoria, devouring anything I could find online. Because of the second, I became obsessed for some time with trying to read whether people might be transsexual.
So I approached this book with excitement, expecting to find a whole new dimension to a subject in which I had already had some experience. I wanted to read a soul-searching exploration of what attracts one person to another, how much it is a biological body, how much it is the person's being, where sexual attractiveness resides between the two, how Alex, a heterosexual woman, could be attracted to another woman (her husband, the biological male), and what biological sex, gender identity, and sexuality ultimately came to mean to Alex.
Did it once cross her mind to continue a sexual relationship once Adam became Audrey? (Is a person just a body? What if Adam had lost half his body in an accident? Was there any shade of homophobia involved in the author's reaction? Did Adam become obviously female, and therefore unattractive, following his disclosure?)
So, what I enjoyed most about this book were the episodes of intimate sharing. Where memoirs as a genre excel for me are the pages in which a writer lays herself bare, makes herself vulnerable, enables me to relax around my own weaknesses, and makes herself loveable to me because of that shared intimacy. Alex's story provides some of these moments (first sexual encounter with Adam, school life, father) and I lapped them up and I felt for her. But I wanted more.
I felt there was too much detail on background information, and not enough on what I'd come for. Was this perhaps a literary device to deliver a sense of the author's mistrust of the outside world, a shutting down, following her heart-break? Was it conscious or unconscious? How much more is there outside of this book that Alex is not sharing with us? I wanted to take the book and wring it to get what I came for.
Memoirs are always a privilege to read: a valuable, intimate insight into the life and mind of our fellow human beings. The opening of this story is heart-breaking: "How do you grieve for someone who isn't really dead?" And in closing, I was left really hoping that Alex throws herself back into life and finds herself a new lover. I was glad I read this book.
June 17, 2013
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Now, I don’t usually read non-fiction, so I wasn’t quite sure how I’d like it, but the back cover blurb captured my attention. I’m so glad I decided to give this one a try. The writing itself is impeccable. The author is a professional writer and she knows how to tell a tale.
But the story itself was…heart-wrenching. Without going into too much detail, the story chronicles the author’s experience of her husband’s sex change. We follow her through their first meet, their courtship, their marriage, even the first time they made love, and the eventual end of her marriage and her struggle to start her life all over again. All the while, I feel as if I'm right there with her, living it with her. The author’s voice sucked me in from the first page and I honestly only put it down at the end of the night when my eyes got so tired they started to cross. It’s one of those books where the author’s voice and the story itself just draws you back in. She writes with such candid emotion that I can't help but ache for her. I will admit, it got a little long in the details in parts. I’m that person who’s got the attention span of a gnat, so I’m usually the first person to skim over them, yet somehow, all the extra detail only seemed to further pull me into her words.
A heartfelt, well written story. If you like true stories told from the heart, I highly recommend this one.
But the story itself was…heart-wrenching. Without going into too much detail, the story chronicles the author’s experience of her husband’s sex change. We follow her through their first meet, their courtship, their marriage, even the first time they made love, and the eventual end of her marriage and her struggle to start her life all over again. All the while, I feel as if I'm right there with her, living it with her. The author’s voice sucked me in from the first page and I honestly only put it down at the end of the night when my eyes got so tired they started to cross. It’s one of those books where the author’s voice and the story itself just draws you back in. She writes with such candid emotion that I can't help but ache for her. I will admit, it got a little long in the details in parts. I’m that person who’s got the attention span of a gnat, so I’m usually the first person to skim over them, yet somehow, all the extra detail only seemed to further pull me into her words.
A heartfelt, well written story. If you like true stories told from the heart, I highly recommend this one.
August 23, 2015
I can certainly see why this book won awards, ** numerous awards and 2015 Beverly Hills Book Awards finalist in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Non-Fiction category. It was also a 2014 National Indie Excellence Awards finalist in the LGBT Non-Fiction category; and the 2013 New England Book Festival winner in the Gay Literature category.**
This is a book that I had to read in one sitting.
We see how Alex meet Adam, we read how they totally loved each other. Alex was so smitten with Adam, she was looking forward to marrying him, starting a family and living a lovely 'normal' family life together.
We can 'feel' the love coming from the pages as you read of her experiences and her feelings.
This is the story of Alex, this is the story of her marriage, this is the story of her husband's revelation, this is her life
I totally had a 'gobsmacked' moment with the way that she discovered her husband's "secret". How heart wrenching. I felt her world collapse around her.
I also felt for Adam in the way he has had to hide his gender dysphoria.
I did wonder that once the shock had settled how and why Alex took a different view on her relationship with Adam. Love cannot be switched on and off. I was expecting them to remain together, but is that more like reading a fairytale? Who knows, but there are marriages that did sustain the gender change and also keep the sexuality. After all, it was just the body that changed.
Then again, I had second thoughts, could I? I am not sure, we cannot judge something that we haven't been through ourselves can we.
Society is a horrid place, people do judge you, and I really think that won't go away. What needs to happen is for that person to be helped to be strong enough to cope.
This is a well written book, she really knows how to tell her story with feelings.
My downside was; there were far too much detail at the start of the book, I know the foundation had to be laid but it took almost half the book up and for the "inquisitive" reader with a window into someone else's life, we want to get to the core of it much quicker.
I think one sentence will stay with me from this book:
"How do you grieve for someone who isn't really dead?"
Grieving for a marriage that once was in your hands to have, grieving for a partner that looks like someone else, grieving for a family that won't materialize. Hopes and dreams shattered.
Media attention.
I really do hope that Alex finds a partner to love and be loved in the way she needs.
And Adam, I am glad he found peace.
**Thank you to Strategic Book Publishing Via Net galley for my copy to read and review, it was a pleasure **
June 5, 2013
In a world where the human condition is fragmented by fears and cultural restraints, how would you react if you found out your lover wanted a sex change? I can't think of a more devastating situation, one in which Alexandra draws some deep honesty in the telling. You have to imagine that you're completely committed to someone, and then this unthinkable knowledge comes to light: would you still be able to love the person unconditionally? Would it have seemed all a sham?
Having reported for twenty years, Alexandra knows how to quickly carry information, a special ability of experienced journalists. She'll take you inside her head, and let you figure out how she reeled, rebounded, and endures. If you want a truly unique memoir experience, I suggest you get this book.
Having reported for twenty years, Alexandra knows how to quickly carry information, a special ability of experienced journalists. She'll take you inside her head, and let you figure out how she reeled, rebounded, and endures. If you want a truly unique memoir experience, I suggest you get this book.
March 14, 2014
I’ve always been fascinated by books about people who identify as transgendered. Maybe it’s my psychology degree, maybe because it’s become more of a mainstream “acceptable’ topic, but I have always been eager to read books on this subject. However, you’ll rarely, if ever, find a book by the SPOUSE of a transgendered individual, so I was happy to be able to review this book.
Alexandra never had a choice in this relationship and was blindsided by her then-husband’s announcement that he identified as a female. Many other spouses walk into the relationships knowing that their loved one was physically born as one gender but mentally feels they are the other gender. I don’t blame Alexandra for feeling like she did. It must be the shock of a lifetime to hear that fact.
I feel it was somewhat selfish of her husband to not ever tell Alexandra the thoughts or inclinations he had. I understand that he was trying to squash them but I share almost everything with my husband and he would be doubly devastated if I were to tell him that I needed to live as a man: first, because of just the nature of the declaration and second, because I had never told him or even hinted at it before. Maybe Alexandra would have made the decision to stay with Adam if he had told her before they were married but he trapped her in a way and made her life’s decisions for her.
I hope this book helps any other people that find themselves in similar situations. While Alexandra had a lot of support and help around her, I’m sure that others do not. If you’d like insight into the thoughts of a transgendered individual, I invite you to read Chaz Bono’s book, although he was born as a female and is now male, which is different from Adam/Audrey’s situation.
I received a copy of this book as part of my involvement with Beck Valley Books. All thoughts are my own.
Alexandra never had a choice in this relationship and was blindsided by her then-husband’s announcement that he identified as a female. Many other spouses walk into the relationships knowing that their loved one was physically born as one gender but mentally feels they are the other gender. I don’t blame Alexandra for feeling like she did. It must be the shock of a lifetime to hear that fact.
I feel it was somewhat selfish of her husband to not ever tell Alexandra the thoughts or inclinations he had. I understand that he was trying to squash them but I share almost everything with my husband and he would be doubly devastated if I were to tell him that I needed to live as a man: first, because of just the nature of the declaration and second, because I had never told him or even hinted at it before. Maybe Alexandra would have made the decision to stay with Adam if he had told her before they were married but he trapped her in a way and made her life’s decisions for her.
I hope this book helps any other people that find themselves in similar situations. While Alexandra had a lot of support and help around her, I’m sure that others do not. If you’d like insight into the thoughts of a transgendered individual, I invite you to read Chaz Bono’s book, although he was born as a female and is now male, which is different from Adam/Audrey’s situation.
I received a copy of this book as part of my involvement with Beck Valley Books. All thoughts are my own.
March 5, 2014
I have mixed emotions about this book.
I liked the book. There is no doubt. I enjoyed reading about trangender from a different perspective – the partner’s perspective.
When I first opened the book, I thought I would be reading it from Adam/Audrey’s perspective and looked forward to it (and I have to say, I wish Audrey would have agreed to take part in the book, but she declined Alex’s offer). I liked that it wasn’t Audrey’s perspective or even Audrey’s journey from point A to point B. It was Alex’s journey from falling in love with the man of her dreams, getting married, and then finding out that Adam was really Audrey. It was something I had never read before.
The part that gives me mixed emotions is the therapist side of me. I struggle with some of it, but that is a whole other thing.
Overall, if you are open minded and accept the LGBT community, I think you would like this book.
It isn’t full of statistics and data (there is a small, few pages towards the end that do provide some stats from 2011 that were heartbreaking, but interesting to learn). It is a story. Not an essay. Not a research paper. It is a story from the side of the woman in love with a man who really wasn’t.
I liked the book. There is no doubt. I enjoyed reading about trangender from a different perspective – the partner’s perspective.
When I first opened the book, I thought I would be reading it from Adam/Audrey’s perspective and looked forward to it (and I have to say, I wish Audrey would have agreed to take part in the book, but she declined Alex’s offer). I liked that it wasn’t Audrey’s perspective or even Audrey’s journey from point A to point B. It was Alex’s journey from falling in love with the man of her dreams, getting married, and then finding out that Adam was really Audrey. It was something I had never read before.
The part that gives me mixed emotions is the therapist side of me. I struggle with some of it, but that is a whole other thing.
Overall, if you are open minded and accept the LGBT community, I think you would like this book.
It isn’t full of statistics and data (there is a small, few pages towards the end that do provide some stats from 2011 that were heartbreaking, but interesting to learn). It is a story. Not an essay. Not a research paper. It is a story from the side of the woman in love with a man who really wasn’t.
July 16, 2016
This is one of those reviews that is tough to write, not because of the subject matter or the content, or even the writing style. But because this is just a bad book. I mean seriously. Maybe if the description of it wasn’t different I wouldn’t dislike it as much, but...I mean honestly? I see it won/nominated for awards and I all I can think is...how? Did they just read the description and not read the book? Did someone just write the title in and they went “Oh yes this sounds great!”? What?? And the cover, with a man gazing longingly into her reflection as the woman she was meant to be? That is such a great image...except it isn’t Adam or Audrey and really has nothing to do with the book other than to capture people off guard and sell the book as “this will tear your soul out and make you have hope for the impossible!” Seriously. That’s the purpose of it. Wait...I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Let’s start from the beginning. From the description of the book it sounds like a wife/loved one talked about her ex coming out as trans and transitioning into the woman that she was born to be. And this is the type of book that is needed in the trans community. How do the people around you deal with the transition? What are some of the problem they’re likely to run into? How does it affect marriage? And so on. And as someone that’s genderqueer I’ve been looking for books like this to give to people I know to help better explain things. But this book does none of that. At all. Like none of these questions are answered or addressed. Instead this is Alex’s (Alexandra’s) story of how her world fell apart when Adam came out as trans. And how she experienced a “Woe is me” epic for the ages and how “Adam” ruined her life by coming out as trans. Seriously. That’s what this is.
The first half of the book is literally building up to their wedding. I’d say it presents a view of Adam/Audrey so we can understand her later, but it doesn’t. It presents a view of how Alex remembers Adam, which is none too kindly. Even when she’s in love with him, she describes all the things about him that get on her nerves and how he seems to be less of a normal man, blah, blah, blah. It never reads as a love story at all or give any real indications of Adam other than as a set piece for her wedding. Which by the way was held on a horse racing field. During the weekend of a horse race. And on TV. She even talks about everyone tried to tell her not to do this, but she was dead set on it and specifically mentions convincing Adam, her parents, and his parents to go along with it. I mention this because it comes up again later. And then it delves into their two years of being married together as “being roommates.” Oh she was still in love, they just didn’t see each other often because they worked opposite schedules. And then when they were going on their last trip together (unbeknownst to her at the time) she bitches and moans because he’s an insensitive clot and left his passport somewhere else and wasn’t going to be able to join her than evening, but the next day. And of course he’s evil because of this. And maybe he’s cheating on her! Or maybe he’s now injured! Who knows?! But he shows up and they have a decent time until she decides to be passive aggressive towards him and on their last day he wants to visit a shoe museum! DUH DUH. Cue the dramatic foreshadowing.
And then when they come back Adam tells her to come to his psychiatrist's office with him. Demands it really. And that’s when she finds out. Adam is really Audrey. And of course she’s crushed. She doesn’t know what to do! This is the love of her life. And he’s really a woman. Named Audrey. She says she still loves him, but she wants a divorce. And Audrey agrees. She wakes up and discovers him gone, no note, no nothing, and her first thought is “he must have committed suicide!” But she comes home and says “Don’t you remember I said I had to go to work?” No! Of course I don’t! Why didn’t you stay with me!
...only she doesn’t say that last part. I think she meant too, but didn’t and regrets it. And that’s what the rest of the book is. Audrey doesn’t appear after she moves out except in a few sentences here and there. This book tells nothing of her transition. Or the problems that Alex encountered other than those of her own making. The rest of the book is literally about Alex whining and wasting her life away. When Audrey came out I can understand how hurt and confused Alex was. And I can understand wanting the divorce as well. But what comes after? Yeah I don’t get that. At all. Everytime she writes about Audrey from then on, she purposefully misgenders her, referring her to as “he” and “him” and on at least one occasion “it.” She writes about how her family and friends all hate Audrey and the, well frankly, transphobic and bigoted things they say about her. She moves back in with her mom and tries to start again. Only horror of horrors! Her newspaper is sold and she’s pissed they didn’t even give her a heads up that it was coming (she says this. Seriously.) And fate is so cruel to do this to her, even though the new owners want to keep her on! REALLY???!!? Fate is cruel because of this?? Only she doesn’t get the job, because she blew the interview. ON PURPOSE! I get not wanting to work for a company she might not like, but...ARGHHHHHHHH!!!
Hrm. Ok. I’m calm now. So she gets a new job, moves out of her mom’s house and life goes on. Fifteen years worth. And she still blames Audrey for her problems! “Oh woe is me! I can’t have kids because of Audrey!” “Oh woe is me! I can never love again!” Fifteen years passes and she’s barely had anything to do with Audrey, but it’s Audrey’s fault. Audrey undergoes her transition and Alex implies that she got the money illegally, because, well she never had the money when they were together. Audrey still owes her money from their wedding! The one that was huge and magnificent that she didn’t really want that big....And holy cow! Her identity was stolen and someone filed a return in her name one year and surely, surely it must be Audrey! Because they used her married name, from when she was married to Audrey! Alex even goes so far as to contact her ex brother-in-law, a tax person to look into it! Audrey didn’t react strongly to the passing of Alex’s cat and that was a sign she didn’t really care about her. Oh and she didn’t call Alex on her birthday! How dare she! How dare she pick up on the clues that Alex wanted nothing to do with her, so she didn’t call or try to keep in contact with her at all. HOW DARE SHE LIVE HER LIFE! Hrm. A police officer friend starts calling Alex on her shit (rightly so) saying things along the lines of “Seriously? How is Audrey stopping you from living? LIVE. Go do things! Go date again. She’s living her life, why aren’t you living yours?”
And that’s what brings us to this book. Alex decides that she needs to write this story as a way of helping her move on. She reaches out to Audrey while she’s at work and says “I’m going to write this book. It’s going to be about my life with you in it. Are you ok with it?”, and horror of horrors! Audrey says she can’t talk while at work! OMFG! How dare she? Audrey calls Alex back after she gets off though and Audrey says, write the book. Do you. Alex explains that she’s already got a publisher, she’s got a lawyer so that she can make sure she isn’t sued for libel and so that Audrey can’t get any of the money from the book. SHE FUCKING WRITES THIS! SHE ADMITS IT! Alex then says “Well can I interview you?” to which Audrey replies “No. No this is about you. Not about me. And seriously it could hurt me here if it were to come out.” To which Alex thinks “Ungrateful bitch. Hurt her? Pfew! As if.” And then she researches trans rights and HOLY CRAP Audrey wasn’t lying! She could really die from assholes out there. And the book ends with Alex saying how the world is gray and dark and no one knows what the future holds but today...today she’s ok.
A reporter, decides to write about her life with Audrey and doesn’t do the research on it until she’s already come to her conclusions on what trans people go through. A reporter her spent the last fifteen years blaming her ex for her own passive aggressive behaviors writes a book about them and openly admits to making sure that her ex can’t sue her for libel and will never get money from the book. That’s what this book is. It’s not about trans rights or trans relationships. It’s about one woman taking advantage of the sudden rise in trans presence in the news to make money off of her “woe is me” story. That’s all it is. And all it will be. Ever. Alex doesn’t write about when Adam became Audrey. She writes about when she lost the person she loved and couldn’t move on. She couldn’t let her own hate and bigotry go to discover what really happens in the transgender world. And she decided to make money off of it.
I hate telling people not to read a book. Because effort went into it. Hopes and dreams and aspirations were poured into it. Even the bad ones. But this book does nothing to help the trans community or the LGBTQ community or anyone other than Alex. It helps promote transphobia, hate, and bigotry and it does nothing to talk about what happens to the loved ones of people that come out as trans, other than Alex’s personal story. If you want to read how not to treat people that comes out as trans, then this book is for you. Otherwise, leave this one behind to turn to dust.
Review copy provided by NetGalley
Let’s start from the beginning. From the description of the book it sounds like a wife/loved one talked about her ex coming out as trans and transitioning into the woman that she was born to be. And this is the type of book that is needed in the trans community. How do the people around you deal with the transition? What are some of the problem they’re likely to run into? How does it affect marriage? And so on. And as someone that’s genderqueer I’ve been looking for books like this to give to people I know to help better explain things. But this book does none of that. At all. Like none of these questions are answered or addressed. Instead this is Alex’s (Alexandra’s) story of how her world fell apart when Adam came out as trans. And how she experienced a “Woe is me” epic for the ages and how “Adam” ruined her life by coming out as trans. Seriously. That’s what this is.
The first half of the book is literally building up to their wedding. I’d say it presents a view of Adam/Audrey so we can understand her later, but it doesn’t. It presents a view of how Alex remembers Adam, which is none too kindly. Even when she’s in love with him, she describes all the things about him that get on her nerves and how he seems to be less of a normal man, blah, blah, blah. It never reads as a love story at all or give any real indications of Adam other than as a set piece for her wedding. Which by the way was held on a horse racing field. During the weekend of a horse race. And on TV. She even talks about everyone tried to tell her not to do this, but she was dead set on it and specifically mentions convincing Adam, her parents, and his parents to go along with it. I mention this because it comes up again later. And then it delves into their two years of being married together as “being roommates.” Oh she was still in love, they just didn’t see each other often because they worked opposite schedules. And then when they were going on their last trip together (unbeknownst to her at the time) she bitches and moans because he’s an insensitive clot and left his passport somewhere else and wasn’t going to be able to join her than evening, but the next day. And of course he’s evil because of this. And maybe he’s cheating on her! Or maybe he’s now injured! Who knows?! But he shows up and they have a decent time until she decides to be passive aggressive towards him and on their last day he wants to visit a shoe museum! DUH DUH. Cue the dramatic foreshadowing.
And then when they come back Adam tells her to come to his psychiatrist's office with him. Demands it really. And that’s when she finds out. Adam is really Audrey. And of course she’s crushed. She doesn’t know what to do! This is the love of her life. And he’s really a woman. Named Audrey. She says she still loves him, but she wants a divorce. And Audrey agrees. She wakes up and discovers him gone, no note, no nothing, and her first thought is “he must have committed suicide!” But she comes home and says “Don’t you remember I said I had to go to work?” No! Of course I don’t! Why didn’t you stay with me!
...only she doesn’t say that last part. I think she meant too, but didn’t and regrets it. And that’s what the rest of the book is. Audrey doesn’t appear after she moves out except in a few sentences here and there. This book tells nothing of her transition. Or the problems that Alex encountered other than those of her own making. The rest of the book is literally about Alex whining and wasting her life away. When Audrey came out I can understand how hurt and confused Alex was. And I can understand wanting the divorce as well. But what comes after? Yeah I don’t get that. At all. Everytime she writes about Audrey from then on, she purposefully misgenders her, referring her to as “he” and “him” and on at least one occasion “it.” She writes about how her family and friends all hate Audrey and the, well frankly, transphobic and bigoted things they say about her. She moves back in with her mom and tries to start again. Only horror of horrors! Her newspaper is sold and she’s pissed they didn’t even give her a heads up that it was coming (she says this. Seriously.) And fate is so cruel to do this to her, even though the new owners want to keep her on! REALLY???!!? Fate is cruel because of this?? Only she doesn’t get the job, because she blew the interview. ON PURPOSE! I get not wanting to work for a company she might not like, but...ARGHHHHHHHH!!!
Hrm. Ok. I’m calm now. So she gets a new job, moves out of her mom’s house and life goes on. Fifteen years worth. And she still blames Audrey for her problems! “Oh woe is me! I can’t have kids because of Audrey!” “Oh woe is me! I can never love again!” Fifteen years passes and she’s barely had anything to do with Audrey, but it’s Audrey’s fault. Audrey undergoes her transition and Alex implies that she got the money illegally, because, well she never had the money when they were together. Audrey still owes her money from their wedding! The one that was huge and magnificent that she didn’t really want that big....And holy cow! Her identity was stolen and someone filed a return in her name one year and surely, surely it must be Audrey! Because they used her married name, from when she was married to Audrey! Alex even goes so far as to contact her ex brother-in-law, a tax person to look into it! Audrey didn’t react strongly to the passing of Alex’s cat and that was a sign she didn’t really care about her. Oh and she didn’t call Alex on her birthday! How dare she! How dare she pick up on the clues that Alex wanted nothing to do with her, so she didn’t call or try to keep in contact with her at all. HOW DARE SHE LIVE HER LIFE! Hrm. A police officer friend starts calling Alex on her shit (rightly so) saying things along the lines of “Seriously? How is Audrey stopping you from living? LIVE. Go do things! Go date again. She’s living her life, why aren’t you living yours?”
And that’s what brings us to this book. Alex decides that she needs to write this story as a way of helping her move on. She reaches out to Audrey while she’s at work and says “I’m going to write this book. It’s going to be about my life with you in it. Are you ok with it?”, and horror of horrors! Audrey says she can’t talk while at work! OMFG! How dare she? Audrey calls Alex back after she gets off though and Audrey says, write the book. Do you. Alex explains that she’s already got a publisher, she’s got a lawyer so that she can make sure she isn’t sued for libel and so that Audrey can’t get any of the money from the book. SHE FUCKING WRITES THIS! SHE ADMITS IT! Alex then says “Well can I interview you?” to which Audrey replies “No. No this is about you. Not about me. And seriously it could hurt me here if it were to come out.” To which Alex thinks “Ungrateful bitch. Hurt her? Pfew! As if.” And then she researches trans rights and HOLY CRAP Audrey wasn’t lying! She could really die from assholes out there. And the book ends with Alex saying how the world is gray and dark and no one knows what the future holds but today...today she’s ok.
A reporter, decides to write about her life with Audrey and doesn’t do the research on it until she’s already come to her conclusions on what trans people go through. A reporter her spent the last fifteen years blaming her ex for her own passive aggressive behaviors writes a book about them and openly admits to making sure that her ex can’t sue her for libel and will never get money from the book. That’s what this book is. It’s not about trans rights or trans relationships. It’s about one woman taking advantage of the sudden rise in trans presence in the news to make money off of her “woe is me” story. That’s all it is. And all it will be. Ever. Alex doesn’t write about when Adam became Audrey. She writes about when she lost the person she loved and couldn’t move on. She couldn’t let her own hate and bigotry go to discover what really happens in the transgender world. And she decided to make money off of it.
I hate telling people not to read a book. Because effort went into it. Hopes and dreams and aspirations were poured into it. Even the bad ones. But this book does nothing to help the trans community or the LGBTQ community or anyone other than Alex. It helps promote transphobia, hate, and bigotry and it does nothing to talk about what happens to the loved ones of people that come out as trans, other than Alex’s personal story. If you want to read how not to treat people that comes out as trans, then this book is for you. Otherwise, leave this one behind to turn to dust.
Review copy provided by NetGalley
September 19, 2013
MY FIRST ENCOUNTER OCCURRED when I was around 11 years old. My brain couldn't make sense of that weird kid at school, likely because at that point in my life, I took things at face value. Questioning life's peculiarities seemed only to invite more confusion and my plate was already quite full.
Fast forward to a few months ago. I was walking down the aisle at the grocery store. Another shopper came towards me in the opposite direction. The person wore a black miniskirt with matching leather jacket and heals that made my ankles hurt just by looking at them. Long, black hair swooshed back and forth as this peculiarity strolled past me towards the freezer aisle. That same confusion from decades earlier came rushing back to my consciousness as it had other times when confronted with this particular situation.
"I saw a transvestite at the store," I confessed to Sandra, my coworker that afternoon. I described his/her attire and how confused I was because, despite an air of femininity, it was obvious that this was a man. "My brain doesn't connect with people like this," I told her. "My brains identifies male or female but for this person the lines were blurred and I didn't know what to think. It was disconcerting."
Sandra let me know that she shares similar confusion. We talked a bit longer, each of us fueling the other with disparaging comments, unfit for inclusion here, I confess. Transgenders are easy targets for mocking.
Click here to read more or purchase this book.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I began reading Alexandra Bogdanovic's memoir Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey, an absorbing account of a wife being confronted with her husband's Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or Gender Dysphoria.
Alexandra and Adam are madly in love. Following their fairy tale wedding, they begin their very active lives together, working and playing hard. Alexandra dismisses little oddities such as why she has to spend the first day of their married life alone and perhaps it's this active life that keeps her distanced from her husband's sometimes peculiar behavior.
After a two-year marriage, with the help of Adam's therapist, Alexandra learns of her husband's decision to "make his body match his mind" or live as a woman. A painful divorce follows and then Alexandra must come to terms with the horrendous betrayal that shattered her dreams. She has good friends and a healthy support system but, understandably, it takes about a decade for Alexandra to heal.
In the final chapters of Truth Be Told, Alexandra wisely cites studies done on people with GID. These statistics and bits of a TV show narrated by Lisa Ling serve to humanize what GID is and how difficult and painful it can be for everyone involved. She also points out the inherent stigma surrounding GID and how society's ignorance fuels abuse for these already hurting people.
I always thought of transgender types as nightclub-going, cross-dressers, people who got their jollies in weird ways, a sort of bizarre underworld or something. I never really thought about GID being a psychological condition or perhaps a yet-unidentified biological anomaly. More importantly, I never thought about how difficult it must be to struggle with gender identity, to be living in an atomically incorrect body.
I readily confess that Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey has challenged my thinking and prejudice against people with GID. I will look at them differently now. The older I get the more I realize I don't know about the human condition. And the more I realize how important compassion is.
Thank you Alexandra.
Grace Peterson
Author of REACHING--A Memoir
www.gracepete.com
Fast forward to a few months ago. I was walking down the aisle at the grocery store. Another shopper came towards me in the opposite direction. The person wore a black miniskirt with matching leather jacket and heals that made my ankles hurt just by looking at them. Long, black hair swooshed back and forth as this peculiarity strolled past me towards the freezer aisle. That same confusion from decades earlier came rushing back to my consciousness as it had other times when confronted with this particular situation.
"I saw a transvestite at the store," I confessed to Sandra, my coworker that afternoon. I described his/her attire and how confused I was because, despite an air of femininity, it was obvious that this was a man. "My brain doesn't connect with people like this," I told her. "My brains identifies male or female but for this person the lines were blurred and I didn't know what to think. It was disconcerting."
Sandra let me know that she shares similar confusion. We talked a bit longer, each of us fueling the other with disparaging comments, unfit for inclusion here, I confess. Transgenders are easy targets for mocking.
Click here to read more or purchase this book.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I began reading Alexandra Bogdanovic's memoir Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey, an absorbing account of a wife being confronted with her husband's Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or Gender Dysphoria.
Alexandra and Adam are madly in love. Following their fairy tale wedding, they begin their very active lives together, working and playing hard. Alexandra dismisses little oddities such as why she has to spend the first day of their married life alone and perhaps it's this active life that keeps her distanced from her husband's sometimes peculiar behavior.
After a two-year marriage, with the help of Adam's therapist, Alexandra learns of her husband's decision to "make his body match his mind" or live as a woman. A painful divorce follows and then Alexandra must come to terms with the horrendous betrayal that shattered her dreams. She has good friends and a healthy support system but, understandably, it takes about a decade for Alexandra to heal.
In the final chapters of Truth Be Told, Alexandra wisely cites studies done on people with GID. These statistics and bits of a TV show narrated by Lisa Ling serve to humanize what GID is and how difficult and painful it can be for everyone involved. She also points out the inherent stigma surrounding GID and how society's ignorance fuels abuse for these already hurting people.
I always thought of transgender types as nightclub-going, cross-dressers, people who got their jollies in weird ways, a sort of bizarre underworld or something. I never really thought about GID being a psychological condition or perhaps a yet-unidentified biological anomaly. More importantly, I never thought about how difficult it must be to struggle with gender identity, to be living in an atomically incorrect body.
I readily confess that Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey has challenged my thinking and prejudice against people with GID. I will look at them differently now. The older I get the more I realize I don't know about the human condition. And the more I realize how important compassion is.
Thank you Alexandra.
Grace Peterson
Author of REACHING--A Memoir
www.gracepete.com
October 7, 2015
I’m sorry, but Truth Be Told, I really didn’t like this book. I gave it multiple chances, assuming that my own moods might be interfering with the read, but it doesn’t get any better, regardless of the mood.
In all fairness, the blurb did promise that “this is the other side of the story,” but I expected that story to be a little more balanced. Instead, this is a very bitter – and often cruel – bit of venting by the author, who didn’t take the initial coming out very well, and who still hasn’t found a way to deal with it. Despite the years that have passed since Audrey transitioned, Alexandra still can’t be bothered to even refer to her by her proper name, much less use the proper gender when talking about her. It’s deliberate, it’s disrespectful, and it’s insulting.
As for that balance, this is largely a self-indulgent reflection on the author’s life, in which Audrey’s transition is barely a footnote. It’s long-winded, boring, and full of extraneous details about things like horseback riding that we could have done without. Even after the pivotal event, the focus remains solely on the author, although she does go out of her way to show just how judgemental and disgusted her friends and family were towards Audrey as well, just so we know she’s not biased by her relationship status.
Look, I get that the author was hurt by the break-up of her fairy tale marriage. I get that she was devastated by what she saw as a very personal betrayal. I get that she had to deal with a lot, from her own emotions, to her family’s response, to society’s attitudes towards the issue. I would have cried ‘shenanigans’ if she didn’t at least acknowledge that pain, but I also expected her to get past it. At some point, I expect some degree of acceptance, and maybe even a little sympathy for Audrey’s situation.
In case you’re wondering whether it ever gets better, let me share with you what I expected to be a pivotal conversation towards the end. It’s a conversation she had with Audrey about her plans for the book, which Audrey made it clear she wanted nothing to do with. After Audrey shares her concerns about not needing any more problems, and shares her fears of becoming a hate crime murder victim, the author’s response is, “Oh, for pity’s sake! Really? Whining is sooo unbecoming . . . This is bullshit.”
That’s pretty much the point where my dislike soured to hate.
Ever the optimist, I thought maybe - just maybe – there was a lightbulb moment coming when she started sharing some transgender statistics, and recapped some transgender stories she saw chronicled on the Oprah Winfrey Network. This, I thought, would be where she learns some understanding and compassion by viewing the issue from outside her relationship. Sadly, it’s not to be. Instead, she goes right back to the self-pity party, saying the “man” she loved “may just as well have died all those years ago,” since “the person he became is at best a casual acquaintance, at worst a stranger I don’t want to know.”
Speaking of strangers I don’t want to know, you can count the author one of them.
In all fairness, the blurb did promise that “this is the other side of the story,” but I expected that story to be a little more balanced. Instead, this is a very bitter – and often cruel – bit of venting by the author, who didn’t take the initial coming out very well, and who still hasn’t found a way to deal with it. Despite the years that have passed since Audrey transitioned, Alexandra still can’t be bothered to even refer to her by her proper name, much less use the proper gender when talking about her. It’s deliberate, it’s disrespectful, and it’s insulting.
As for that balance, this is largely a self-indulgent reflection on the author’s life, in which Audrey’s transition is barely a footnote. It’s long-winded, boring, and full of extraneous details about things like horseback riding that we could have done without. Even after the pivotal event, the focus remains solely on the author, although she does go out of her way to show just how judgemental and disgusted her friends and family were towards Audrey as well, just so we know she’s not biased by her relationship status.
Look, I get that the author was hurt by the break-up of her fairy tale marriage. I get that she was devastated by what she saw as a very personal betrayal. I get that she had to deal with a lot, from her own emotions, to her family’s response, to society’s attitudes towards the issue. I would have cried ‘shenanigans’ if she didn’t at least acknowledge that pain, but I also expected her to get past it. At some point, I expect some degree of acceptance, and maybe even a little sympathy for Audrey’s situation.
In case you’re wondering whether it ever gets better, let me share with you what I expected to be a pivotal conversation towards the end. It’s a conversation she had with Audrey about her plans for the book, which Audrey made it clear she wanted nothing to do with. After Audrey shares her concerns about not needing any more problems, and shares her fears of becoming a hate crime murder victim, the author’s response is, “Oh, for pity’s sake! Really? Whining is sooo unbecoming . . . This is bullshit.”
That’s pretty much the point where my dislike soured to hate.
Ever the optimist, I thought maybe - just maybe – there was a lightbulb moment coming when she started sharing some transgender statistics, and recapped some transgender stories she saw chronicled on the Oprah Winfrey Network. This, I thought, would be where she learns some understanding and compassion by viewing the issue from outside her relationship. Sadly, it’s not to be. Instead, she goes right back to the self-pity party, saying the “man” she loved “may just as well have died all those years ago,” since “the person he became is at best a casual acquaintance, at worst a stranger I don’t want to know.”
Speaking of strangers I don’t want to know, you can count the author one of them.
January 1, 2016
This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.
Alex is a jilted, divorced wife. But what should make this novel different from the norm is that she got divorced because the man she loved was a trans-woman. Honestly, I don’t think the book hit all the right things in order to make this something special like it could have been.
Poor, poor Alex. Dating a man for 10 years, and then suddenly finding out that he is a woman. But the person Adam was on the inside was the same, surely. Yes, he now won’t have a penis, but is sex with that all you were interested in? It frustrated me that Alex couldn’t even give Audrey the chance to explain. If anyone needed therapy, Alex certainly could have used some.
The majority of the text in this novel is devoted to talking about how Audrey and Alex met. And then about horse shows. And then about shopping to fix her feelings. And cats. And very little that was unique. It just sounded like a pity party. And hanging out with her buddies, the cops. Who cares who they were? They’re just your friends, and putting them in the novel didn’t really serve any purpose.
What didn’t come through to me was the ‘special nature’ of their divorce. It seemed like any other divorce, and why would complaining about your husband becoming a woman be a special complaint to knock down other people’s relationship woes?
Ok, so Audrey is portrayed as a grasping, lying pig. The author says that Audrey refused to cooperate with helping write the novel, and that the author didn’t want Audrey getting her grubby hands on any money from it. I think that Audrey may have been given the short shift. Why would she want to revisit her old life? Did it ever occur to the author that Audrey might have been able to move on?
The final thing that broke it for me was the fact that Alex couldn’t get Audrey’s pronouns right. As a friend to a trans-person, and sometimes making mistakes when referring to the past, then some excuses are ok. But really, she should be able to remember the correct pronouns, its simply just polite. Even if you now hate the person involved.
I was so disappointed in this novel. I had requested a copy to review, based on the hype on Twitter, but it didn’t live up to expectations. 2 begrudging stars from me, because I did manage to finish it. I so wish it had added more to queer literature like it had the potential to. It’s not as unique as it is billed to be.
Alex is a jilted, divorced wife. But what should make this novel different from the norm is that she got divorced because the man she loved was a trans-woman. Honestly, I don’t think the book hit all the right things in order to make this something special like it could have been.
Poor, poor Alex. Dating a man for 10 years, and then suddenly finding out that he is a woman. But the person Adam was on the inside was the same, surely. Yes, he now won’t have a penis, but is sex with that all you were interested in? It frustrated me that Alex couldn’t even give Audrey the chance to explain. If anyone needed therapy, Alex certainly could have used some.
The majority of the text in this novel is devoted to talking about how Audrey and Alex met. And then about horse shows. And then about shopping to fix her feelings. And cats. And very little that was unique. It just sounded like a pity party. And hanging out with her buddies, the cops. Who cares who they were? They’re just your friends, and putting them in the novel didn’t really serve any purpose.
What didn’t come through to me was the ‘special nature’ of their divorce. It seemed like any other divorce, and why would complaining about your husband becoming a woman be a special complaint to knock down other people’s relationship woes?
Ok, so Audrey is portrayed as a grasping, lying pig. The author says that Audrey refused to cooperate with helping write the novel, and that the author didn’t want Audrey getting her grubby hands on any money from it. I think that Audrey may have been given the short shift. Why would she want to revisit her old life? Did it ever occur to the author that Audrey might have been able to move on?
The final thing that broke it for me was the fact that Alex couldn’t get Audrey’s pronouns right. As a friend to a trans-person, and sometimes making mistakes when referring to the past, then some excuses are ok. But really, she should be able to remember the correct pronouns, its simply just polite. Even if you now hate the person involved.
I was so disappointed in this novel. I had requested a copy to review, based on the hype on Twitter, but it didn’t live up to expectations. 2 begrudging stars from me, because I did manage to finish it. I so wish it had added more to queer literature like it had the potential to. It’s not as unique as it is billed to be.
March 6, 2014
I did not know what I was going to think of this book when I first started to read it. When I got into it I didn’t even comprehend fully what it would be like for Alex when her husband told her that he was a woman in a man’s body. She had so looked forward to starting a family with him and she loved him dearly. Adam’s therapist was the one that ended up breaking the news to Alex and she was heartbroken. I felt heartbroken right along with her because I do not know how I would handle if my husband told me that he was transgender after we had been married for a while and had wanted to start a family.
Alex had to try to get her life back together for herself after the divorce. She must come to terms and cope with what information that she had learned about what was supposed to be the man in her life and the love in her heart. Her mother and her friend, Paul, help her along through her journey but she eventually can not trust any other man because of what she has gone through with Adam. I honestl do not blame her because that trust from what you see on the outside would be hard to judge in a person what they were really feeling on the inside. She moves away and starts her life over as a reporter. You are rooting for her the whole time and sympathizing with what she has just gone through.
Finding out someone is totally different from what you thought they were can be traumatic and I think that this is one of the top dogs for secrets that would totally break your heart. Lies will wreck any sort of relationship no matter what it is and so with all the heartache that I knew that Alex was feeling, you as a reader feel it right along with her because you can just imagine if this situation had happened to you. Will anything in your heart and mind ever be the same again?
I was happy that I picked this story up and was able to have the chance to review something that was slightly out of my comfort zone. It gave me new perspective on the transgender community and the hardships that everyone goes through whether you are figuring out the real you or if someone around you finally finds out a secret that you have been harboring for a while. I give the book FOUR stars because the beginning was a little slow, but other than that it was a truly gripping read and I recommend it whole-heartedly.
I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.
March 11, 2014
I’m not suggesting that Bruce Jenner is undergoing a transgender transition. He hasn’t said that, and I don’t know it. However, when I read the statistics that Alexandra Bogdanovic provides in her heart wrenching and educational memoir detailing her now ex-husbands decision to “make his body match his mind” his recent physical changes came immediately to mind. They’ve been all over the media, and it certainly appears like Bruce is becoming Brenda.Bruce Jenner
As I watch his physicality change in real-time, what Kris Jenner must be going through never crossed my mind until I read Truth Be Told. I can’t imagine the mental and emotional Alexandra Bogdanovic lived through to tell the story of her own true love’s sexual transition, even though I read the words she wrote describing just that. Until now, when I saw a transvestite or transgender I really only thought of them in terms of their own world. I never considered anybody in their path -- on their way to becoming. This author has really changed that for me.
What Bogdanovic’s fearlessness at opening up her life has done is throw the doors wide open and let us look in as what appeared to be a perfectly good marriage fell apart as one partner revealed his earth shattering truth to the other, and then pursued it. That truth was almost a betrayal of everything he’d ever said or been to his spouse, and it took her nearly a decade to recover.
This Alice and the looking-glass experience made me feel so many ways. I wondered if there were clues that Bogdanovic should have picked up on from the beginning - something we always want to think so we can feel more comfortable about our own lives. I wondered what Aubrey would say differently about how it all unfolded, or how often she thinks of Bogdanovic as a casualty of her becoming. You may have questions, too. I hope you do - I definitely hope you read it!
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. That’s the only kind I give so it worked out perfectly.
As I watch his physicality change in real-time, what Kris Jenner must be going through never crossed my mind until I read Truth Be Told. I can’t imagine the mental and emotional Alexandra Bogdanovic lived through to tell the story of her own true love’s sexual transition, even though I read the words she wrote describing just that. Until now, when I saw a transvestite or transgender I really only thought of them in terms of their own world. I never considered anybody in their path -- on their way to becoming. This author has really changed that for me.
What Bogdanovic’s fearlessness at opening up her life has done is throw the doors wide open and let us look in as what appeared to be a perfectly good marriage fell apart as one partner revealed his earth shattering truth to the other, and then pursued it. That truth was almost a betrayal of everything he’d ever said or been to his spouse, and it took her nearly a decade to recover.
This Alice and the looking-glass experience made me feel so many ways. I wondered if there were clues that Bogdanovic should have picked up on from the beginning - something we always want to think so we can feel more comfortable about our own lives. I wondered what Aubrey would say differently about how it all unfolded, or how often she thinks of Bogdanovic as a casualty of her becoming. You may have questions, too. I hope you do - I definitely hope you read it!
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. That’s the only kind I give so it worked out perfectly.
December 18, 2015
In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on the transgender community and slowly, society is becoming more informed on what it means to a transgender person. A lot of the experiences that are chronicled are by the person who is transitioning, never by a relative or friend. I thought this was an interesting memoir to read because it would chronicle a woman’s experience of finding out that her husband is transgender and was going to undergo surgery to become a woman. As I read this memoir, I became appalled and extremely upset, especially to see how people can be so insensitive and not be open to understand.
First, the book starts off really slow. I believe like about half of the novel is about how Audrey met Adam and what led to them getting married and whatnot. I guess for someone who does not know the couple it would be necessary to understand what kind of dynamic they had with each other but I feel the author added unnecessary information.
When the author finds out about her husband being transgender, I understood why she felt hurt and betrayed. I understand trust was lost and whatnot. But as I continued reading, I became even more disgusted. She treated Audrey as she was some kind of monster and victimized herself as to being the one that was the only one suffering in the situation. At one point in the book, she does not respect Audrey and does not use the proper pronouns. Another point in the book that absolutely disgusted me is when the author contacts Audrey years later to make sure that if it’s okay for her to publish the book and whatnot. Audrey is hesitant because she does not want to be targeted and fall victim to hate crimes. The author once again victimizes herself and gets mad at Audrey and says she does not care and accuses her of always making everything about her.
At this point, I could not continue reading. I am astonished to see people be as ignorant as Alexandra Bogdanovic. I am surprised this book has won awards because it is such a terrible book. Not worth the read. Spare your time and read something else. Not worth it.
First, the book starts off really slow. I believe like about half of the novel is about how Audrey met Adam and what led to them getting married and whatnot. I guess for someone who does not know the couple it would be necessary to understand what kind of dynamic they had with each other but I feel the author added unnecessary information.
When the author finds out about her husband being transgender, I understood why she felt hurt and betrayed. I understand trust was lost and whatnot. But as I continued reading, I became even more disgusted. She treated Audrey as she was some kind of monster and victimized herself as to being the one that was the only one suffering in the situation. At one point in the book, she does not respect Audrey and does not use the proper pronouns. Another point in the book that absolutely disgusted me is when the author contacts Audrey years later to make sure that if it’s okay for her to publish the book and whatnot. Audrey is hesitant because she does not want to be targeted and fall victim to hate crimes. The author once again victimizes herself and gets mad at Audrey and says she does not care and accuses her of always making everything about her.
At this point, I could not continue reading. I am astonished to see people be as ignorant as Alexandra Bogdanovic. I am surprised this book has won awards because it is such a terrible book. Not worth the read. Spare your time and read something else. Not worth it.
March 17, 2014
I have to admit, I wanted to read Truth Be Told because I was curious about Transgender individuals. I have not personally known any transgender individuals, so this book was a learning experience for me. It opened my eyes to a whole new world that I never had thought about before. This book is more than just facts about sexual identity, it's about love, acceptance, promises and more. Alex fell in love with a man who hid that fact that he longed to be a woman. I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for Alex. The author does a great job showing how she dealt with her hurt, anger and depression. She also used comedy to keep the book more lighthearted than I thought it was going to be.
The author did a fabulous job detailing her emotions. It's a challenge that ANYONE can go through. Depression, lack of self- esteem, anger are all real problems that need to be dealt with. Alex had her Mom and her friend Paul who supported her and lifted her up throughout the story. We heard her side of the story. Most books and articles are about how the actual transgender individual deals with acceptance and tolerance into society. But we rarely see what happens to the people that they loved before they changed gender. In a way, spouses (like Alex) seem to have more emotional roller coasters to conquer. Alex showed us many of those in her book.
I enjoyed the book but there was just something about it that left me hanging. Each chapter seemed to try to lead us into conflict, but once i started reading the next chapter, I was disappointed that nothing exciting was happening. It left me wanting more adventure.
Overall, Truth be Told, Adam Becomes Audrey, is a great read. I had trouble putting it down, each chapter sucked you in so you couldn't stop reading.
Disclosure: I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.
The author did a fabulous job detailing her emotions. It's a challenge that ANYONE can go through. Depression, lack of self- esteem, anger are all real problems that need to be dealt with. Alex had her Mom and her friend Paul who supported her and lifted her up throughout the story. We heard her side of the story. Most books and articles are about how the actual transgender individual deals with acceptance and tolerance into society. But we rarely see what happens to the people that they loved before they changed gender. In a way, spouses (like Alex) seem to have more emotional roller coasters to conquer. Alex showed us many of those in her book.
I enjoyed the book but there was just something about it that left me hanging. Each chapter seemed to try to lead us into conflict, but once i started reading the next chapter, I was disappointed that nothing exciting was happening. It left me wanting more adventure.
Overall, Truth be Told, Adam Becomes Audrey, is a great read. I had trouble putting it down, each chapter sucked you in so you couldn't stop reading.
Disclosure: I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.
September 22, 2013
Review
This book tells the story of Alexandra and her discovery of her husband’s hidden secret. Written from a stance that I didn’t quite expect, I fully appreciated the attention to detail and the need to bring the reader into the situation; achieved through the use of an almost informal tone, openness and the abundance of description.
With a clearly interesting life anyway, I took more away than ‘just’ having read a book about how a woman recovers after learning the truth about her husband. At times, I felt myself so captured and eager to turn the next page that it was as though I was reading a piece of fiction.
As I’ve said already, this wasn’t what I was expecting from the book. If, like me, you appreciate an honest story where the small details truly matter, this is the book for you. If you’re looking for something a bit more fast-paced, you’re looking in the wrong place. Given how captivating the writing style is, the pace of the book really doesn’t matter. In fact, it is quite jumpy in places; with vast detail given in some areas and very little in others, but as a non-fiction book this just reflects on the fact that is a true life story.
Overall
This was a book that I read from cover to cover; partially due to the length of it (160 pages) but also due to the ease of reading. The writing style, for me, was definitely the shining point of this book and made me want to carry on. If you enjoy non-fiction, I would highly recommend this book.
* Book was sent for free in exchange for an honest review.
This book tells the story of Alexandra and her discovery of her husband’s hidden secret. Written from a stance that I didn’t quite expect, I fully appreciated the attention to detail and the need to bring the reader into the situation; achieved through the use of an almost informal tone, openness and the abundance of description.
With a clearly interesting life anyway, I took more away than ‘just’ having read a book about how a woman recovers after learning the truth about her husband. At times, I felt myself so captured and eager to turn the next page that it was as though I was reading a piece of fiction.
As I’ve said already, this wasn’t what I was expecting from the book. If, like me, you appreciate an honest story where the small details truly matter, this is the book for you. If you’re looking for something a bit more fast-paced, you’re looking in the wrong place. Given how captivating the writing style is, the pace of the book really doesn’t matter. In fact, it is quite jumpy in places; with vast detail given in some areas and very little in others, but as a non-fiction book this just reflects on the fact that is a true life story.
Overall
This was a book that I read from cover to cover; partially due to the length of it (160 pages) but also due to the ease of reading. The writing style, for me, was definitely the shining point of this book and made me want to carry on. If you enjoy non-fiction, I would highly recommend this book.
* Book was sent for free in exchange for an honest review.
October 31, 2013
Alexandra Bogdanovic’s Truth Be Told Adam Becomes Audrey was a fascinating read. It provided a glimpse of an ordinary couple’s life that very suddenly became anything but ordinary. After a satisfying courtship and several happy years of marriage to Adam, Alexandra, at a counselor’s office, is suddenly faced with the news that her husband is really a woman.
Alexandra is, for many years following this disclosure, quite angry about the unexpected turn her life has taken. She feels that fate has treated her unfairly and that she has been somehow shortchanged. However, toward the end of the book, Alexandra, in her effort to turn her story into a book, decided to do some research and she finds the Human Rights Campaign. It provides her with all of the information that she needs to open her mind sufficiently to feel compassion for what Adam, and other transgender people, must typically endure in life. She learns of the way that family and society largely ostracizes these individuals, how violence is very often directed at them, how they are regularly, and often legally, fired from jobs, and how general intolerance toward them is rampant.
Somehow, in understanding these concepts about the difficulties that her ex-husband, now Audrey, must have experienced as he grew up, Alexandra’s compassion is reignited and she eventually finds her way back to a state of peace.
I learned quite a bit from Truth Be Told Adam Becomes Audrey that will stay with me. This true story is a worthwhile glimpse into how an ordinary woman deals with extraordinary circumstances.
Alexandra is, for many years following this disclosure, quite angry about the unexpected turn her life has taken. She feels that fate has treated her unfairly and that she has been somehow shortchanged. However, toward the end of the book, Alexandra, in her effort to turn her story into a book, decided to do some research and she finds the Human Rights Campaign. It provides her with all of the information that she needs to open her mind sufficiently to feel compassion for what Adam, and other transgender people, must typically endure in life. She learns of the way that family and society largely ostracizes these individuals, how violence is very often directed at them, how they are regularly, and often legally, fired from jobs, and how general intolerance toward them is rampant.
Somehow, in understanding these concepts about the difficulties that her ex-husband, now Audrey, must have experienced as he grew up, Alexandra’s compassion is reignited and she eventually finds her way back to a state of peace.
I learned quite a bit from Truth Be Told Adam Becomes Audrey that will stay with me. This true story is a worthwhile glimpse into how an ordinary woman deals with extraordinary circumstances.
June 10, 2015
I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Alex, when Adam, the husband she loved with all her heart and was looking forward to starting a family with, informed her that he was really a woman in a man’s body. She had only become aware of his transgender issues when they had been married for a couple of years and after Adam had asked her to visit his therapist, who broke the news which sent Alex reeling with shock.
After a bitter divorce Alex has to try and come to terms with life on her own. Her mother and good friend Paul offer support, but she cannot trust any other man enough to be able to form another relationship. She moves far away and throws herself into her work as a reporter and tries to rebuild her life.
I can sympathise totally with the pain on learning that the man you are in love with is really somebody else. It happened to me in a different way, but it’s the same lies and mistrust that eventually wreck any marriage. I wonder if anyone ever really does get over the disappointment and heartache in having all their plans for the future dashed?
The story is told very well. My only criticism would be that it took until 38% on my Kindle before the actual subject itself was written about. Not being interested in anything to do with the equine world, I found the first third of the book a bit hard going, but was glad that I persevered to enjoy quite an interesting but sad tale.
After a bitter divorce Alex has to try and come to terms with life on her own. Her mother and good friend Paul offer support, but she cannot trust any other man enough to be able to form another relationship. She moves far away and throws herself into her work as a reporter and tries to rebuild her life.
I can sympathise totally with the pain on learning that the man you are in love with is really somebody else. It happened to me in a different way, but it’s the same lies and mistrust that eventually wreck any marriage. I wonder if anyone ever really does get over the disappointment and heartache in having all their plans for the future dashed?
The story is told very well. My only criticism would be that it took until 38% on my Kindle before the actual subject itself was written about. Not being interested in anything to do with the equine world, I found the first third of the book a bit hard going, but was glad that I persevered to enjoy quite an interesting but sad tale.
February 17, 2014
As soon as I read the description of this book I knew I wanted to read it. I am interested in learning more about things like gender dysphoria. Gender Dysphoria is the scientific term for when you feel you are the wrong gender. You may be born one gender, but you feel and identify with another.
This book was told by the other side. The side we don't hear about, the side that has their world turned completely upside down. Alexandra married who she thought was the man of her dreams. She envisioned children together, growing old together. Unfortunately that is not what happened.
My heart goes out to Alexandra. She went through something that no one can possibly understand unless it happens to them.
I wanted to love this book. However the content left me wanting more of some things and less of others. The author goes into great detail about the horse races that she covers for her newspaper job. At the end of the book she goes into great detail about laws and such for the transgender community.
Those I feel went on a bit too long. I wish there was more of the emotions she went through. How did she feel,how did she deal with Adam becoming Audrey?
This was suppose to be Alexandra's side of the story... I just wish we saw more of her side in the book.
This book was told by the other side. The side we don't hear about, the side that has their world turned completely upside down. Alexandra married who she thought was the man of her dreams. She envisioned children together, growing old together. Unfortunately that is not what happened.
My heart goes out to Alexandra. She went through something that no one can possibly understand unless it happens to them.
I wanted to love this book. However the content left me wanting more of some things and less of others. The author goes into great detail about the horse races that she covers for her newspaper job. At the end of the book she goes into great detail about laws and such for the transgender community.
Those I feel went on a bit too long. I wish there was more of the emotions she went through. How did she feel,how did she deal with Adam becoming Audrey?
This was suppose to be Alexandra's side of the story... I just wish we saw more of her side in the book.
August 12, 2013
*I received a copy of this book for free, in exchange for a review*
What would you do if the person of your dreams, your soul mate decides that they can’t live a lie any more? That they are trapped in the wrong body? Would you stay and support them? Or would you move on?
This is an emotionally charged book, that sweeps the reader in right from the start. There is no hiding of any feeling, no matter how raw and painful. It’s right there for you to feel. I felt like I was going thru this with Alexandra Bogdanovic. I felt her joy at the beginning of her relationship, then her heart break at the end. I truly wanted to give her a hug and tell her it will be okay eventually. Life goes on, you learn to trust again, you learn to love and hope again. But it all takes time.
This is not a book for everyone, this is a book for people with an open mind. Do not judge someone on the choices they make, until you have been in their spot. I applaud Alex for being so brave as to bear her emotions and her heart in this way. This is a very private and personal journey that she decided to share.
Some of the details were a little to much and could have been left out.
What would you do if the person of your dreams, your soul mate decides that they can’t live a lie any more? That they are trapped in the wrong body? Would you stay and support them? Or would you move on?
This is an emotionally charged book, that sweeps the reader in right from the start. There is no hiding of any feeling, no matter how raw and painful. It’s right there for you to feel. I felt like I was going thru this with Alexandra Bogdanovic. I felt her joy at the beginning of her relationship, then her heart break at the end. I truly wanted to give her a hug and tell her it will be okay eventually. Life goes on, you learn to trust again, you learn to love and hope again. But it all takes time.
This is not a book for everyone, this is a book for people with an open mind. Do not judge someone on the choices they make, until you have been in their spot. I applaud Alex for being so brave as to bear her emotions and her heart in this way. This is a very private and personal journey that she decided to share.
Some of the details were a little to much and could have been left out.
March 12, 2014
Can you even imagine, after 10 years together and even getting married, finding out that your husband wants to be a woman? I can't. Honestly, I feel so bad for Alexandra for the pain she went through, for the rejection she must have felt, for the questions that have always remained unanswered. But, I also feel so bad for Audrey, too. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to know that you were born in the wrong body. To be born a man, but to always feel like you should have been a woman.
This book is about Alexandra, though. And she fills us in on what that experience was like for her and how she forever felt like she could never trust another man, how she could never let anyone else in and how she felt like she had to live her life alone. My heart broke in half for her. For the entire situation.
This book was so well-written, so raw, so real and so very enlightening. It made me feel like I was right there with her every step of the way. I urge you to check this book out. It is a story that needs to be told and I was glad to read it.
This book is about Alexandra, though. And she fills us in on what that experience was like for her and how she forever felt like she could never trust another man, how she could never let anyone else in and how she felt like she had to live her life alone. My heart broke in half for her. For the entire situation.
This book was so well-written, so raw, so real and so very enlightening. It made me feel like I was right there with her every step of the way. I urge you to check this book out. It is a story that needs to be told and I was glad to read it.
November 23, 2015
This book was not what I expected. I anticipated and wanted to read about how and why Adam became Audrey, but that is largely absent other than some discussion of childhood experiences. I also expected more discussion of Alexandra's struggle to deal with the unexpected news -- learning more about what being transgender means and really exploring what it meant for the future relationship. Instead, she essentially gives up and plans her escape (which is not to say that is an inappropriate or unexpected response).
While not what I expected, I think the book is still worth reading. In addition to stories about transgender individuals, we also need to hear from those affected by the decision to embrace one's true self and be the man or woman the transgender person longs to be.
One thing I did not like was the detailed description of equestrian events, because I could not see how it contributed to the story. I think the backstory of how they met and the importance of the Hampton Grand Prix could have been told without so much detail about equestrian competition.
While not what I expected, I think the book is still worth reading. In addition to stories about transgender individuals, we also need to hear from those affected by the decision to embrace one's true self and be the man or woman the transgender person longs to be.
One thing I did not like was the detailed description of equestrian events, because I could not see how it contributed to the story. I think the backstory of how they met and the importance of the Hampton Grand Prix could have been told without so much detail about equestrian competition.
January 5, 2014
The Stranger I Have Loved
3.49 Stars
This was a hard book for me to rate. Truly wish that it were possible to give half stars. Four stars just do not sit well with me, but the three stars also seems less than enough.
The book was well written and I commend the author for sharing an obviously painful part of her life. The pain of unfulfilled promises and a ‘happily ever after’ that doesn’t work out is universal. No matter how foreign the reasons for it may be to some readers.
Though I sympathized with the author throughout the story I could not help but feel this nagging sort of disconnect from the events being told. This disconnect comes from areas of the book feeling hampered in the telling by Aubrey’s decision to not be involved in with the book (as we find out in the later chapters).
** I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. **
3.49 Stars
This was a hard book for me to rate. Truly wish that it were possible to give half stars. Four stars just do not sit well with me, but the three stars also seems less than enough.
The book was well written and I commend the author for sharing an obviously painful part of her life. The pain of unfulfilled promises and a ‘happily ever after’ that doesn’t work out is universal. No matter how foreign the reasons for it may be to some readers.
Though I sympathized with the author throughout the story I could not help but feel this nagging sort of disconnect from the events being told. This disconnect comes from areas of the book feeling hampered in the telling by Aubrey’s decision to not be involved in with the book (as we find out in the later chapters).
** I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. **
May 17, 2013
A tragic story, and one that I couldn’t put down. After a couple of years of marriage to the man of her dreams, the author learns that her husband is transgender, and is planning sex-change surgery. Alexandra Bogdanovic tells her story with eloquence and candor, and the pain she experienced, and continues to experience, is evident on every page. Her life would have been interesting anyway; a career in journalism, and the many events she witnessed and people she knew, would have provided a good story by themselves. But her shock at the betrayal of her husband, her inability to trust following that betrayal, and her efforts to rebuild her life, all draw the reader in.
As I concluded the book, I hoped that Ms. Bogdanovic is able to find the fulfillment and contentment she thought she’d found when she married Adam, so many years ago.
As I concluded the book, I hoped that Ms. Bogdanovic is able to find the fulfillment and contentment she thought she’d found when she married Adam, so many years ago.
March 8, 2014
I wanted to read this book because I remember the whole Chaz backlash and thought that it was not fair. I really want to commend this author on telling her story and trying to spread awareness. The book was sad at times and at other times I was happy for the characters. I also live in Connecticut and I was interested in reading about my state. This is a good book, on a controversial subject. It is not for everyone. I however thought that it was well written. I am giving this book a 4/5. I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own. - See more at: http://dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com/2...
January 14, 2014
Alexandra lays out the best and worst times in her marriage for the world to read. In return, I found myself emotionally invested in the story. This book contains the ups and downs of any marriage: love, lust and loss. This is a great story for gaining a dual perspective on a very pertinent issue: transgender society. However, it's more than a story about a broken marriage and a shattered identity. It is a good example for how we can ALL work to be more understanding and tolerant in our own interactions with the world. This was a very good story and I'm a better person for having the chance to read it.
March 9, 2014
I love this book because it portrays a strong woman who does not easily give up after all the things that she’ve been through. The author did a good job in sharing her story in an honest way. She teaches every reader that life goes on even after the major failures and heartbreaks people experience. I highly recommend this book for all the women out there. Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey is an interesting book that will make you want to spend sleepless nights just to finish it. It will show all the readers of their worth as women. Most importantly, this book will help readers to move on from a loss and start a new life they deserve.
November 16, 2015
It is very difficult to judge an autobiography on the premise it is actually someones life story however saying that i think the author maybe could have reviewed the way in which they wrote it.
Having read Chas Bono's book a while back i imagined that this would be a similar undertaking however whereas that book came across with a high level of honesty this author left me feeling that the book was all about her and not about Adam becoming Audrey. There was a lot of selfishness and "poor me" about it all. How she was robbed of her marriage and children etc etc, yes i appreciate it takes two to tango but this book was not for me sorry.
"Unbiased review via netgalley"
Having read Chas Bono's book a while back i imagined that this would be a similar undertaking however whereas that book came across with a high level of honesty this author left me feeling that the book was all about her and not about Adam becoming Audrey. There was a lot of selfishness and "poor me" about it all. How she was robbed of her marriage and children etc etc, yes i appreciate it takes two to tango but this book was not for me sorry.
"Unbiased review via netgalley"
March 18, 2014
The main reason why I accepted this book review (including complimentary copy of the book) by Beck Valley Books was because I was somewhat curious as to how someone would conclude that they are transgender and how that would affect their loved ones. Telling the story of the author’s husband’s sex change must have been hard, but was very well written and intriguing to read. It broke my heart that she was in love with a man who wanted so badly to be a woman, and that she was trapped in a way she could not know when she got married.
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