Birthday (by Meredith Russo)

When I found out that Meredith Russo had another book out, I was excited to read it! She is the transgender author of If I Was Your Girl, a book with a unique perspective that I really enjoyed. 

This book is about two best friends, Eric and Morgan, from a small town in Tennessee, one of whom is questioning their gender. Russo is great at building up the emotion and the premise is powerful. The pain of being trans has rarely come across to me so viscerally.  But I found the climax of the novel too far-fetched. (Spoilers below.)

I get that Eric was attracted to Morgan and somehow sensed that she was a girl all along (I will take it from Russo that this is plausible) but his immediate transition to using the correct pronouns and being all-in physically seemed way too abrupt for me. Would there really be no adjustment necessary? None? At all? The novel went from realistic to wish-fulfillment fantasy in about one sentence, and it took me out of it.

Ultimately this was too flawed for me, but I can see how powerful it would be for a young transgender adult to read, or anyone who doesn't understand what drives trans youth to suicide, and I hope it is very successful in finding its audience.