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Growing Up As One of Jehovah's Transsexuals
As Samantha embarks on a frantic road trip to see her father, who has recently sustained a serious and potentially fatal head injury, her recollections come unbidden. The emotional journey that follows her as she drives is one of transformation and self-discovery, marked by the pursuit of authenticity despite overwhelming odds. The resulting inner dialog captures the complexity of human existence, filled with both horrors and moments of profound insight.
Raised in the confines of the Jehovah's Witness faith, Samantha’s childhood was marked by the suffocating grip of a cult, a narcissistic mother, and an emotionally estranged father. To survive, she must delve into the darkness of her upbringing, trying to understand herself while following the rigid paths set forth for her.
Driving and retracing these difficult roads, Samantha shares brutally honest accounts of abuse, violence, and self-harm. Yet, amidst the chaos, she weaves a thread of resilience, self-acceptance, and empathy that binds her narrative together.
Based on her own life experiences, Laura Engram’s "Growing Up as One of Jehovah's Transsexuals" is a raw and unapologetic memoir that defies convention. Laura takes readers on a tumultuous journey, decisively maneuvering through time, memory, and her quest for identity. More than an autobiography, it's a cultural critique, a social parody, and an analytical exploration of life's most profound questions. A testament to the enduring power of self-worth, no matter the obstacles in the way; it is a rollercoaster ride through the highs and lows of life, ultimately revealing the strength that lies within us all.
Raised in the confines of the Jehovah's Witness faith, Samantha’s childhood was marked by the suffocating grip of a cult, a narcissistic mother, and an emotionally estranged father. To survive, she must delve into the darkness of her upbringing, trying to understand herself while following the rigid paths set forth for her.
Driving and retracing these difficult roads, Samantha shares brutally honest accounts of abuse, violence, and self-harm. Yet, amidst the chaos, she weaves a thread of resilience, self-acceptance, and empathy that binds her narrative together.
Based on her own life experiences, Laura Engram’s "Growing Up as One of Jehovah's Transsexuals" is a raw and unapologetic memoir that defies convention. Laura takes readers on a tumultuous journey, decisively maneuvering through time, memory, and her quest for identity. More than an autobiography, it's a cultural critique, a social parody, and an analytical exploration of life's most profound questions. A testament to the enduring power of self-worth, no matter the obstacles in the way; it is a rollercoaster ride through the highs and lows of life, ultimately revealing the strength that lies within us all.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2023
3 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
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December 4, 2025
This book is excellent. Engram is wonderfully descriptive and an excellent story teller. I found this book at a local bookstore, so I had no expectations of it outside of hoping the book lives up to its killer title. It does.
The book had a cohesion I didn’t expect, tying in her very first thoughts about a Palahniuk novel with a main theme of the book: our life stories can feel discontinuous, interconnected, tangled, and we experience them non-linearly. There is a brilliance to how she did this.
Engram had a way of hooking me into the story which exceeded my expectations, and she unraveled her story in a thrilling way I could never quite predict.
I rated the book four stars in hopes that it gets its Invisible Monsters: Remix release in the future (a boy can dream). I found it difficult to follow for the first 10 chapters, where it then suddenly made much more sense and flowed wonderfully. I do fear this book will lose people in its first 10 chapters, which is why I wanted to write this review.
Although it’s possible I was confused by the structure in the beginning and started to understand it around 100 pages into the book, I also noticed many spelling and grammatical errors on the front end of the book; it seemed to need another editing pass for spelling, grammar, and general flow and clarity. Engram has a great vocabulary and a skill for a colorful turn of phrase, so her prose or writing skill wasn’t an issue; that was quite excellent. Her errors were on the differences between they’re vs. there, it’s versus its, etc., which distracted me and tarnished the general polish of the book. Those issues diminished as the book continued further, but still remained throughout.
I am rooting for this book and for Engram, and believe this work deserves tons of love and attention. Hopefully, I’ll see a revamp or remix version sometime in the future, perhaps with a structure shift similar to its Invisible Monster reference, which would just be so fun.
Lastly, I don’t have a single clue how Engram wrote this while being a mom and going through everything she did. Kudos. Loved this book!!
The book had a cohesion I didn’t expect, tying in her very first thoughts about a Palahniuk novel with a main theme of the book: our life stories can feel discontinuous, interconnected, tangled, and we experience them non-linearly. There is a brilliance to how she did this.
Engram had a way of hooking me into the story which exceeded my expectations, and she unraveled her story in a thrilling way I could never quite predict.
I rated the book four stars in hopes that it gets its Invisible Monsters: Remix release in the future (a boy can dream). I found it difficult to follow for the first 10 chapters, where it then suddenly made much more sense and flowed wonderfully. I do fear this book will lose people in its first 10 chapters, which is why I wanted to write this review.
Although it’s possible I was confused by the structure in the beginning and started to understand it around 100 pages into the book, I also noticed many spelling and grammatical errors on the front end of the book; it seemed to need another editing pass for spelling, grammar, and general flow and clarity. Engram has a great vocabulary and a skill for a colorful turn of phrase, so her prose or writing skill wasn’t an issue; that was quite excellent. Her errors were on the differences between they’re vs. there, it’s versus its, etc., which distracted me and tarnished the general polish of the book. Those issues diminished as the book continued further, but still remained throughout.
I am rooting for this book and for Engram, and believe this work deserves tons of love and attention. Hopefully, I’ll see a revamp or remix version sometime in the future, perhaps with a structure shift similar to its Invisible Monster reference, which would just be so fun.
Lastly, I don’t have a single clue how Engram wrote this while being a mom and going through everything she did. Kudos. Loved this book!!
Displaying 1 of 1 review