Status
Coming Soon
Call number
Collection
Genres
Publication
New York : Little Brown & Co., 2007.
Description
In this honest, emotionally captivating short story collection, renowned author and National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters offers a stunning portrayal of young women as they navigate the hurdles of relationships and sexual identity. From the young lesbian taking her first steps toward coming out to the two strangers who lock eyes across a crowded train, from the transgender teen longing for a sense of self to the girl whose abusive father has turned her to stone, Peters is the master of creating characters whose own vulnerability resonates with readers and stays with them long after the last page is turned. Grl2grl shows the rawness of teenage emotion as young girls become women and begin to discover the intricacies of love, dating and sexuality.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jadelennox
I wanted to love this book, I really did. Julie Anne Peters wrote the first (to my knowledge) young adult novel about a transgendered character, and here she is producing a series of short stories about queer girls. I never expected to be blown away by the prose. Her Luna is a book which is
In some ways, grl2grl does exactly that. Of course there are a variety of short stories about lesbian teens. Some are traumatized about coming out, while others are comfortable with their sexuality and only worried about their individual romantic dramas (why is she cheating on me? why doesn't she love me?). There is, as anticipated, a story about a transgendered boi, though it upsettingly ends in a hate crime. Another protagonist finds herself attracted to a genderqueer girl in an almost nonsexual story. In one of the tales, a character who certainly seems to be gendered as male is romantically attracted to his teacher; I admit I'm not sure what the story is doing in this collection, as all of the other entries feature protagonists who are either gendered or biologically female.
I know that no book can be every book. I didn't fault Luna for only including the experiences of femme MTF youth, as that book was about that one particular character and only needed to represent her reality. However, an ideologically-based book of short stories has somewhat more over responsibility, if not to portray all experiences positively, then at least refraining from making its sole representations of certain queer sexualities as negative ones.
Grl2grl presents one asexual character, and shows that her clearly dysfunctional lack of sexuality is the result of extensive sexual abuse at home. The collection also presents no bisexual characters, although there is one offhand insult about a former girlfriend who thought she was bisexual but was actually heterosexual. In a collection with such a wide variety of presentations of youthful female sexuality, these two negative portrayals stand out with disturbing prominence.
These short stories are not high-quality enough fiction to stand on their own as fiction. Their excuse for existing is to fulfill an ideological project -- and don't get me wrong, it's an important ideological project. But given this limitation, the negative presentations of asexuality and bisexuality worry me. Plenty of adolescents are fighting with non-heteronormative sexualities as they come of age, and some of those non-heteronormative sexualities include a lack of desire for sex or romance (difficult for teens in a world which constantly throws messages of sex at teenagers and adults) or desire for individuals across the gender/sex spectrum (equally difficult given the hostility of many in the queer community toward bisexuality). I worry that a reader with bisexual or asexual tendencies, given this collection by a well-meaning librarian will see herself as excluded even by the queer and genderqueer communities.
It's not that I think this book needed to present all forms of potential female sexuality in a positive light. I just wish that it had chosen not to be negative about those forms of sexuality it was choosing not to present positively.
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important for its subject matter, but which reads like a paint by numbers problem novel. Nevertheless, I hoped she would really add to the canon of clear young adult fiction.In some ways, grl2grl does exactly that. Of course there are a variety of short stories about lesbian teens. Some are traumatized about coming out, while others are comfortable with their sexuality and only worried about their individual romantic dramas (why is she cheating on me? why doesn't she love me?). There is, as anticipated, a story about a transgendered boi, though it upsettingly ends in a hate crime. Another protagonist finds herself attracted to a genderqueer girl in an almost nonsexual story. In one of the tales, a character who certainly seems to be gendered as male is romantically attracted to his teacher; I admit I'm not sure what the story is doing in this collection, as all of the other entries feature protagonists who are either gendered or biologically female.
I know that no book can be every book. I didn't fault Luna for only including the experiences of femme MTF youth, as that book was about that one particular character and only needed to represent her reality. However, an ideologically-based book of short stories has somewhat more over responsibility, if not to portray all experiences positively, then at least refraining from making its sole representations of certain queer sexualities as negative ones.
Grl2grl presents one asexual character, and shows that her clearly dysfunctional lack of sexuality is the result of extensive sexual abuse at home. The collection also presents no bisexual characters, although there is one offhand insult about a former girlfriend who thought she was bisexual but was actually heterosexual. In a collection with such a wide variety of presentations of youthful female sexuality, these two negative portrayals stand out with disturbing prominence.
These short stories are not high-quality enough fiction to stand on their own as fiction. Their excuse for existing is to fulfill an ideological project -- and don't get me wrong, it's an important ideological project. But given this limitation, the negative presentations of asexuality and bisexuality worry me. Plenty of adolescents are fighting with non-heteronormative sexualities as they come of age, and some of those non-heteronormative sexualities include a lack of desire for sex or romance (difficult for teens in a world which constantly throws messages of sex at teenagers and adults) or desire for individuals across the gender/sex spectrum (equally difficult given the hostility of many in the queer community toward bisexuality). I worry that a reader with bisexual or asexual tendencies, given this collection by a well-meaning librarian will see herself as excluded even by the queer and genderqueer communities.
It's not that I think this book needed to present all forms of potential female sexuality in a positive light. I just wish that it had chosen not to be negative about those forms of sexuality it was choosing not to present positively.
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LibraryThing member satyridae
Short stories about disaffected & odd & alternative teen girls discovering self & sexuality & life its ownself. Well-done.
LibraryThing member Chris.Wolak
I wish this book was around when I was in high school! Real stories about what its like to be a lesbian/trans teenager.
Awards
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — Young Adult Fiction — 2008)
CCBC Choices (2008)
Language
Physical description
151 p.; 21 cm
ISBN
9780316013437