Annabel in Queereaders

Mar 29, 2011 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-lit, fiction, gay, award-winners, library-books, outlaw-reviews, shelf-inflicted

Cross-posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw Reviews

There are not many novels that explore the lives of intersex characters in fiction, so I was thrilled to pick this up at the library.

Kathleen Winter is a gifted writer. Her beautiful words, vivid images and intimate details of family life totally absorbed and unsettled me.

What I was hoping to get out of this novel was insight into the life of Wayne, an intersex child born in Labrador. (I refuse to use the ugly word “hermaphrodite”). His fat Cross-posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw Reviews

There are not many novels that explore the lives of intersex characters in fiction, so I was thrilled to pick this up at the library.

Kathleen Winter is a gifted writer. Her beautiful words, vivid images and intimate details of family life totally absorbed and unsettled me.

What I was hoping to get out of this novel was insight into the life of Wayne, an intersex child born in Labrador. (I refuse to use the ugly word “hermaphrodite”). His father, Treadway, makes the decision to raise the child as a boy, while his mother, Jacinta, is unhappy about stifling Wayne’s female qualities.

Instead, this story focuses on the quiet rural life of Labrador, the long and lonely seasons where men hunted and women were confined to a laborious indoor life of cooking, scrubbing, and raising children. It also intimately explores the joys and difficulties of family life and how hard it is to raise a child who is different.

I like the complex relationship that Wayne has with his father. There are interesting secondary characters that enrich Wayne’s life, a few who make it very difficult, and a few who add nothing to the narrative. One of these characters, Thomasina, has been supportive of Wayne from the moment of his birth and I’m disappointed that she spent much of her time traveling.

“I wouldn’t call what you have a disorder. I’d call it a different order. A different order means a whole new way of being. It could be fantastic. It could be overwhelmingly beautiful, if people weren’t scared.”

When Wayne gets older, he learns the circumstances of his birth and decides to stop taking hormones. At this point in the story, Wayne should be having more of a reaction to this new knowledge and the changes occurring in his body. Instead, we are subject to a sensational medical crisis that seems improbable and important characters begin to fade away. Wayne becomes more distant as a character and it becomes even harder to understand what he’s feeling.

As soon as Wayne changes his name to Annabel, bad things happen. I won’t say more, but I am surprised at a female author using this to prove a character’s femininity. It’s cruel, it’s disturbing and it’s offensive.

I almost loved this book. Now I’m sad and I’m going to knock off two stars.

...more

51 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2012 Dana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gender-identity

So I gave this book three stars, but I have to say I found it to be pretty disappointing.

(view spoiler) ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2014 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adults, trans-content, queer-content

My shelf labels are woefully inadequate for this book. I'm usually not into books that have a lot of setting description in them, but Kathleen Winter is amazing at painting a really full picture of a scene in a way that doesn't mess with the pacing of the story. I felt like every description was integral to what was happening in the scene. Fantastic editing!

Also, some of those things that were described kind of blew my mind. Little details that unlocked memories and feelings from childhood. Noth ...more

Like · see review

Nov 17, 2011 Katie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt

Annabel is one of the best examples I can give of a book where its setting is as much a character as the characters are. It takes place in a tiny hunting and trapping village in Labrador. It is remote, isolated and everyone knows everyone else's business.

Treadway and Jacinta give birth to a baby who is a true hermaphrodite - both male and female. They decide (mostly at hyper-masculine Treadway's insistence) to raise the child as male and name him Wayne. Both parents soon realize that the gender ...more

Like · see review

Jan 02, 2011 Scott rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt

So much more than a coming of age story. What can you learn about yourself or identity when you are isolated in a small community within Labrador. Annabel (aka Wayne at birth) is a hermaphrodite born with the gift of fitting in, making independent decisions and having keen 'outsider" perspectives on life around him. As he becomes educated and finds a trusting and eccentric family friend to guide his views on life and culture, Wayne realizes that being Annabel/Wayne is a rare gift. The ending lea ...more

Like · see review

Nov 16, 2011 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-fiction

Lovely writing!

It is not only about the main character an intersexed child raised a boy, but about some of the adults in his life, the tiny Northern Canadian rural community he lives in, nature, etc. This is book heavy on the setting.

Not a lot happens in this book, it is certainly not action packed but it is beautiful, and somehow gets under your skin. I love that not a single character you get to know is really one dimensional, just as gender is not one dimensional. OK I know that sounded a ...more

Like · see review