Book Review
Book Title: Act Cool
Author: Tobly McSmith
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Where: Seattle Library – Amazon
Act Cool by Tobly McSmithMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
August Greene just wants to be an actor. The problem is his conservative parents want that too, but only if August stays a girl and doesn’t transition while living with his Aunt in NYC so he can go to this prestigious acting school.. But what happens when that isn’t an option and you have to just be who you are regardless of the consequences?
TW: transphobia, homophobia, toxic parents, misgendering, deadnaming, suicidal ideation, religious-based prejudice, threat of conversion therapy, mentioned cheating
First, I just want to say thank you to Tobly for writing such a thought provoking but wildly entertaining book. I really did love this book. August was actually a little jerk in the beginning, with a pretty transphobic mindset mainly due to being raised by conservative parents who believe in conversion therapy, but thankfully he starts to get his shit together, thanks in large part to his friends and magical Aunt. I loved his friends, his Aunt is the type of person I hope I get to be when I am older, and even if his school didn’t seem as believable as it could have, I can still picture and hear the sounds of the school when I close my eyes, because Toblys writing REALLY pulls you into the books.
I love that this story is filled with a delicious blend of hope, trauma, pain, self discovery, finding your chosen family, and being honest with yourself first. As a person who has recently come out as non-binary, I can’t quite understand the struggles of presenting differently (I am comfy with the way I look, something they discuss in the book actually), or even my blood related family not approving (they wouldn’t hear me if I told them anyway). But I can sympathize with being able to “act” a certain way for people to accept me, with not knowing how to be anything but what I’ve always pretended to be, and so uneducated with the way things actually work.
I spent a lot of time reflecting after reading this, and then doing some more research. If you aren’t familiar with Transgender topics I encourage you to also do your research as well. We exist, we are literally everywhere, and we aren’t going anywhere. And fun fact if you didn’t know, non-binary people are included under the Transgender label because Transgender simply means identifying with a gender that is different than the one you were assigned at birth. Non-binary does not = “female”, even if I look too femme for your definition of that word.
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