Ally

by Madison Scott-Clary

ally is an autobiographical project. A lot of the information contained within is real, some of it isn't. Each page is structured as a conversation between myself and my ally, a mirror reflection of myself.

Based off the interactive project at ally.id, this book explores different facets of my life -- some true, some embellished, some wholly fictitious -- in a non-linear, ergodic fashion, using color, page-layout, and mixed-media to create a book more experience than memoir.

Genres: Nonfiction

476 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2020

About the author

Madison Rye Progress, also writing under the name Madison Scott-Clary, is an author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry living in the Pacific Northwest. Her interests lie in the realms of furry fiction and non-fiction, collaborative fiction, and hypertextual writing. She is a member of the Furry Writers' Guild, and editor for several projects, fiction and non-fiction. She holds an MFA from Cornell College where she studied the lyric essay and teaching creative writing in fandom- and subculture-specific spaces.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure: I am dating the author.

I do genuinely think that this is one of Madison's best books (as well as, based on our conversations, one of the ones she's proudest of), and it deserves the praise it gets. My experience is not hers is not yours, but I suspect that it's impossible for any queer person of any flavor to read this and not see something of themselves in it. I am, quite obviously, extremely invested in the life of the author of this book, but even if you're not, you will probably learn something about yourself too.

[Linnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel as though when I was reading this, I was chasing down sparkling fractions of the author's soul. Chasing them not because I got this to read and review, but because I deeply wanted to. So I could put all those fractions together and solve an ultimate puzzle whose picture would contain some incomprehensible beauty. A picture I found myself desperately wanting to witness.

There were parts of this I identified with so much as a trans woman living with so many queer experiences. These were words I had never been able to put onto paper myself, words I needed to see and read. Words that let me know I wasn’t alone in these struggles.

If my spouting poetic didn't make it clear, I absolutely adored this book and seriously recommend it for reading. Absolutely fantastic!

[Michael Miele · Rating 5 out of 5]

ally is a strange book and that's not a bad thing. It's composed of many interwoven interstitial conversations the author has had with an unreliable narrator-type character that is at least part of herself. At times incredibly gripping and intensely personal, ally is a book that doesn't shy away from the difficult conversations that we often need to have with ourselves. In a way, I think the author used the conversations to reach a type of catharsis with some of the subjects discussed. After all, who knows us better than ourselves? The dialogue is well written and the ally the author talks to has a character and writing style of her own. So that even though their words are italicized to let you know who's speaking, after a few pages of the book you can tell who's talking from the tone and style of response. The book covers a lot of subjects from gender expression, the difficulty of accepting yourself while dealing with health problems, and the importance of building communities you feel safe expressing yourself in. As well as just about everything between those too. It's a big book, and as such I would recommend reading it in chunks to keep from getting overwhelmed by the emotions that are bared on the pages. There's a good chunk of the book that focuses on a period in the author's life wherein which she had a number of visible physical tics that would make her life more difficult. The frankness with which she discusses this is a breath of fresh air from someone who also had a physical tic brought on by stressful conditions. And though it has left me as well, I worry that I too will eventually remember and it will be back. It meant a hell of a lot to me to read about someone else's experience and I just wanted to say that. I could go on for a while about the other aspects of this book, how it discusses burnout in tech and finding the drive to work on things after the passion has left you but I'm rambling at this point. If you do decide to pick up the book, just know that pg. 302 hit me much harder than I'd like to admit. Because we're all just trying to make it through. I'll take this experience and try to be a good ally.

[Lailatun Nadhirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Macam biasa, baca tanpa belek sinopsisnya terlebih dahulu.
Mula-mula baca, rasa macam, "Eh? Ni bercakap dengan diri sendiri ke?"
Rupa-rupanya betul. Ia lebih kurang sedang bercakap dengan diri sendiri di hadapan cermin.

Tak tergambar kata-kata. Cukup untuk beritahu yang buku ini berjaya memberi kekuatan dalam memahami diri sendiri.
Benar, cara terbaik untuk mengetahui diri sendiri adalah; hadap cermin, bercakap dengan diri sendiri di dalam cermin itu.