I won a copy of this from Goodreads, and here's my (somewhat late) review of it.



I was curious to check out Laura Jane Grace's memoir for two reasons: I'm interested in punk music and politics, and I also really want to read more non-fiction, particularly post-election, to get more perspectives from others, especially those in groups that the US tends to marginalize.



I got into punk via Plan-it-X Records around 2008 when I was 18 (a late bloomer to the scene, I know). Plan-it-X released one of Aga

I won a copy of this from Goodreads, and here's my (somewhat late) review of it.



I was curious to check out Laura Jane Grace's memoir for two reasons: I'm interested in punk music and politics, and I also really want to read more non-fiction, particularly post-election, to get more perspectives from others, especially those in groups that the US tends to marginalize.



I got into punk via Plan-it-X Records around 2008 when I was 18 (a late bloomer to the scene, I know). Plan-it-X released one of Against Me!'s earliest releases, the Crime as Forgiven By EP. By the time I got into the DIY punk scene, though, Against Me! had already abandoned its roots and "sold out." While I missed the falling out between the band and the now-former fans who felt betrayed by Against Me!'s rise in the record label ranks, the latter group's residual feelings of anger, disgust, resentment, and hurt at the band, in their eyes, leaving them behind in exchange for money was still felt on the Plan-it-X message board for years to come. (Part of the Plan-it-X fans' issues stems from the band not letting Chris Clavin, the label's owner, know that No Idea Records would be putting out the next Against Me! album, information he found out from the No Idea site. Grace addresses this by noting that Clavin didn't own a phone and was thus difficult to get in touch with, which seems like a fairly reasonable explanation to move to the larger No Idea without notice, if i'm being objective.)



I never really listened to Against Me! much, despite living in Gainesville for about a year and half from 2008-2009. This wasn't necessarily out of principle, though that did make me less likely to give the band an honest listen. A friend put on Reinventing Axl Rose during a shift once at Wayward Council, a now-defunct not-for-profit record store and show space that Grace mentions in the memoir. When I told her I didn't like Against Me!, she told me that it was "cool" for those in the Gainesville punk community not to like them. I wasn't trying to be cool, though--what I did hear of Against Me! just never resonated with me. I had two opportunities to see them play "secret" shows under fake names. They played a house show at my friend John's in the spring of 2009 under the name Gift Certificate. I broke my arm and had to have surgery a day or two before the show, and I wasn't willing to brave the swarm of people for it. I missed Spoonboy as an opener, though, and that bummed me out. Against Me! also played at The Atlantic as The B-Sides (or something like that) later that year. I went with a couple of friends just out of curiosity. We got there late, however, and Against Me! had played first for some reason. We still got to see Averkiou, so I wasn't disappointed. But enough about me.



All of this is to say that I've never cared enough about Against Me! for the band to mean something to me one way or the other, either as an ever-loyal fan or a disgruntled former one. I always thought that Tom Gabel was kind of an asshole, though, and Grace freely admits that in her memoir. This is an embodiment of what I appreciate the most about Tranny--its honesty. Grace doesn't try to whitewash her past, nor does she ever look for readers to sympathize with her, whether the topic is about Against Me!'s struggles of trying to make it big as a punk band or her own personal struggles of making sense of her being born male instead of female and what to do about it, if anything (not that these are always distinct topics).



A good example of this is when she recounts the story of an altercation at a coffee shop in Tallahassee that led to her being arrested for battery (in 2007, before her transition). Touring to support New Wave, Against Me!'s first major-label release, the frustration of former fans constantly reminding Grace that she had sold out and betrayed them--whether it be by yelling at the band in between songs during shows or by vandalizing the tour bus--caught up to her, and she snapped. While the memoir makes it clear that her struggles of wanting to transition but feeling uncertain or unable to do so added to the anxiety one would already feel in this situation, Grace never uses it as an excuse for her actions. I really like that Grace seeks empathy rather than sympathy, because I don't think there's much to go around of the latter.



I'm also really impressed with Grace's talent as a writer. I gave Against Me! another listen for this reason alone--I just don't like the vocals at all, unfortunately. One thing I didn't understand, though, was the setup of the book. Grace's old journal entries appear every few pages within the narrative, and while I enjoyed reading them, I found their inclusion to really disrupt the flow of the narrative. The entries would refer back to events discussed earlier, look ahead to the future, or sometimes include details or incidents not discussed elsewhere. Because this is a memoir and not a biography, I really don't understand why the entries couldn't have just been integrated into the rest of the narrative. Excerpts here and there could have been useful, but I found the several-page chunks of journal entries periodically inserted within a chapter jarring and unnecessary.



I also would have liked to see more about Grace's life since she became public with her transition, but the 4-5 years since the Rolling Stone interview only make up the last 25 pages or so (of about 300). For this reason, I think many interested in reading Tranny solely for this element of Grace's life and are not interested in her music career might be disappointed (though I'm sure there are reviews on Goodreads from this group of readers, so don't take my word for it). Despite these issues I had with it, though, I found Tranny to be a very compelling read.