Our latest mother-daughter book club read was Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings. It’s a memoir by a 15 year-old girl who was born into a boy’s body. Jazz knew at an early age that she was transgender, and with the help of her accepting family, she transitioned by kindergarten. Jazz, who is now the subject of a TLC reality show, has become a well-known activist for transgender issues and has spoken around the country and received many awards.
Sadly, Being Jazz was too superficial for me (and the rest of our book club). There is a lot of talk about her TV appearances and all the good she has done. Jazz is very grateful for all of the opportunities, and she doesn’t come across as entitled or arrogant, but there is just too much of that and not enough soul-baring. I wanted to know more about what it felt like to be in the wrong body. I wanted to understand gender differences from someone who can’t identify with herself physically . I wanted to understand more about how she related to boys and girls differently. Instead, I got a memoir by a teenager about her life as a celebrity.
I don’t mean to knock the book too much, and I respect Jazz for her openness and courage in fighting for transgender rights. And I appreciated her honesty about her depression. But I wanted more of those things and less of the fights she had with her eighth grade friends.
Being Jazz is well-reviewed, so perhaps I am being curmudgeonly. In the end, it was a bit of a trifle. It could have been much more than what it was, maybe with the help of a (different?) ghostwriter.