🪼 It's easy to realize you're not happy, but it's much harder to figure out how to fix that. 🪼 I listened Cory McCarthy's Man O' War, narrated by E.R. Fightmaster, in one sitting. After not having read much at all for over a year, I quickly and happily sank into River's world and their all too familiar coming of age story that transgender teens go through. Although no two experiences are the same, the emotion, the worries, the euphoria, and everything in between is nearly universal, and McCarthy writes it so well. MAN O' WAR follows River McIntyre over a few years as they discover who exactly they are and who they want to become. Naturally, it's complicated. Even further complicated by the fact that discovering yourself means you have to figure out how to navigate being true to yourself in spaces where people are too busy projecting their own inner world onto you to perceive you the way you view yourself. River is a swimmer, an Arab American, a transgender teen, and someone just trying to exist without making waves. Well, leaping into a shark tank to escape a painfully awkward conversation you already know you'll be playing in your head before bed for years to come certainly made a lot of waves. But they're trying to minimize it! All while still keeping everything and everyone they love in their life. It's a hell of a balancing act, and MAN O' WAR is a hell of a book that I hope you all consider picking up.

Such an important story about a swimmer who transitions beyond what they ever knew was possible. This book was a great exploration into different ways you sexuality does not define you but let’s you explore who you really are. This story is the best trans rep I have seen in a long time and one that follows the story of transition from start to end. The nitty gritty of dysphoria to the discovery of their culture, this book really brought a lot of wonderful elements together.

My one gripe was that the pandemic was randomly brought up after a time jump. I get that contemporary will probably start incorporating it soon but it was just super jarring to see it pop up and be a part of the story.

I wish I could give this ten stars.