While this is the story of Minnie Bruce Pratt and her navigating her life as a lesbian and feminist, while figuring out her sexuality, gender and the way she presents herself, I found this book to be, at its core, a love letter to Leslie Feinberg.

With the book mainly focusing on lesbianism and feminism and Minnie’s relationship with Leslie, it approaches these topics in a way that they all correlate to each other and to Minnie’s life. She talks about women’s oppression and how they’re seen in a bad lighting, specifically by men, and her struggles with that in her daily life and the way people around her think and feel about this subject, specifically women (it’s so sad to see how many women are against women). She talks about race and how people of color are seen as inferior, or not even seen at all, and how queer/trans people of color are not given the attention they deserve. She talks about how queer and trans people keep being erased no matter how they present themselves, cause there never seems to be a proper way to appeal to everyone and with (heterosexual) people always having different opinions on the “right way” to be queer.

And she talks about feeling safe and happy in a relationship and having to unlearn the shame she felt in her previous one and the meaning of being a wife to a man now compared to a butch lesbian. The way she described her relationship with Leslie was truly so beautiful, how Leslie always made her feel safe, wanted, loved, cared for, always being careful to ask consent and knowing how to talk to her and touch her. The longing looks and casual touches they would exchange both in public and private, it’s so obvious how much love they had for each other and how good they were to each other, always sweet and caring.

I loved seeing Minnie grow throughout her life and that, even though she sometimes put her own struggles against other people, she would then realize that everyone is free to do whatever they want and dress however they like, no matter their genre or sexuality, and I love even more how much impact Leslie had on her with helping her understand this.

What in the ever loving fuck did I just read 😶

I mean, this was ok? Each story was interesting and emotional enough that it was enjoyable to read, but I also didn’t feel like it was anything that special that moved me or made me feel connected to the characters or story. The theme/lesson for each story also felt repetitive, with the “Mother and Child” being the most original and moving, where the characters all went to the past for the general same reason and learning the same lesson: don’t wait to say what you want because it might be too late.

The way the women were narrated was a little yucky to me. They were jealous, childish, workaholics, with their soft skin and eyes that resembled the ones of a little girl, while the men were devoted to their work, romantic and caring and basically being praised for doing the bare minimum. The women changed their whole lives and did these grand gestures, while the men were just… there.