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Cinq Jours Par Mois - Dans La Peau D'un Garçon (2009)

by Lauren McLaughlin(Favorite Author)

3.26 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

2266182552 (ISBN13: 9782266182553)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Pocket jeunesse

series

Cycler

review 1: This is not an exploration of gender or queerness, like I thought it would be. It also requires you to suspend disbelief, sort of like reading magical realism. It doesn't read like YA, especially not in its sequel. I guess it's more New Adult. It was a fast read and I really did find myself really liking the characters and wanting to see what would happen. I was also glad to pick up its sequel and see what was going to happen to them. So I definitely enjoyed the book, but only once I made the decision to not feel disappointed about feeling misled by what I thought was a promise of a complex conversation about gender, bodies, and sexuality.
review 2: I picked this book up thinking it was a trans* YA novel. WRONG! The premise was really good and very interestin... moreg. Girl turns into boy every month for four days before her period. Brilliant. So many good things could come from this! But, unfortunately the focus was on shallow dating/prom problems, though the author could've gone so much deeper and written a good, inspirational story for young and confused queer, trans and questioning individuals. While I was glad she tackled the Bisexual issue, I think it could've been handled more gracefully. It's two completely different things to actually be OK with dating someone who's Bisexual or to swallow all of your discomfort just to have the Prom date of your dreams.Another problem I had was all the sex scenes, which weren't bad in and of themselves - she did get inside the mind of the teens, for sure. However, I would've liked to have seen some discussion (even in passing) of protection and safe sex. We all know how much today's world (especially teens!) needs it, after all.I also found the characterization of Jill's mom especially strange. Yes, teenagers think they're parents are horrible, cruel beings. However... I think this was over the top, doing anything possible to keep the world from your precious baby girl, and locking up the boy when he comes around is really, overtly sexist and just not helpful for the story. Seriously, this woman is crazy... and for no purpose that I could tell.So, as it stands, this book reinforces all of the old cultural norms about gender that I've been fighting to change my entire life. Girls only care about boys and looking pretty and boys only care about masturbating, sex and porn. The only reason I was even able to finish it was because I really, truly thought it would get better. There were some points in the story line where she could have made a really successful and helpful commentary about gender and the perception thereof. I thought maybe there was some sort of symbolism going on and Jill would come to embrace the masculinity that lies is all of us. But no. No useful social commentary. Just inane teen relationship drama. Needless to say, I was deeply disappointed. less

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