I Am J by Cris Beam

Ali Mark
Mar 20, 2016
2 min read

Gut Instinct Rating - 4

Story Line - 5

Writing Style - 3.5

Characters - 4.5

Excitement Factor - 3

Believability for type and topics - 5

Similarity to other books - 5

Dust Jacket Art - 4

Title Relevance - 5

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.80. I think it was more deserving of a 4.33.

Published in 2011.

Pages: 326.

Number of books by author: 4.

Genre: GBLT Fiction.

When J struggles with her gender identity, J starts to make changes, from his appearance, to his personality - J becomes he in mind and soul. But he struggles with the ability to become a male by way of hormone levels and body parts.

You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:

GBLT
Transgender Stories
Coming of Age
Identity

This book wasn't fabulous, and I won't remember a week from now what all happened. But what I do know is that this was an excellent introduction to the GBLT, specifically the trans community. I would've only given this 4-stars, so I'm not surprised that my overall rating was a 4.33. I will only briefly discuss this book because I think it's something I will be recommending often for those questioning their gender, or who may be struggling with their identity and how transgender means different things.

The story line was great. The author (which she discusses in her author notes at the end) had first-hand experience, and research regarding transitioning and the transgender community. I was nervous this would be written out of perspective, so I was really pleased that there was background information.

This was her first fiction work, and it was (honestly) apparent. The writing style was long-winded. It felt more like a memoir than work of fiction, which just isn't something I enjoy. The chapters were like, 20 pages long with lots of 'chapter' breaks. And I would've rather seen smaller chapters that were noted by a moment/event, etc. I also noticed that there were flashbacks but it wasn't always clear when those started or stopped. It wasn't really clear how much time elapsed from start to finish, either. I mean, we had markers, but we went from Christmas to Spring in what felt like a few pages.

The story itself wasn't exciting, but it was a great story with a unique starting-and-stopping point (although, I would've been happier with less fluff and more about J's experience). It was a boring story overall with "highlight" moments. Which leads to character development. It was really well done, but being transgender, and starting the transitioning process, that effects everyone in that person's life - friends, coworkers, fellow students, family. I would've loved to see a bit more, especially from J's parents. I'm not sure if the author wanted to keep it isolated to J, but it would've been valuable to see their individual growth stories. I also found Melissa's character incredibly annoying, which was one of the main characters, so I would've liked less of her nonsense and more of her relationship with J, as female, and J, as male.