Yves Rees

A timely and thought-provoking memoir about the trans experience.

Notes from a Transition

All about Yves

Amanda Wells

This is a generous book. I don’t usually read memoirs, but I’ve come to love Dr Rees’ voice in public spaces (radio, writing and Twitter) and their words are particularly considered, intersectional and intelligent. 
This book is naturally more “messy” than shorter form academic writing that I’ve read from Rees before. Appropriately so. Rees blends their vulnerable confessions in with intellectual vigour, in a way that reminds me of my own attempts to be honest in writing (though I don’t think I’ve ever got a far or deep as this). 
The parts of the book that moved me the most involved Rees’ relationships with their mother, their cats, and their friends. When they say that gender is relational, it resonated. I sometimes feel that I don’t know who I am without relationship to other people. And I struggle to imagine a person’s story without relationships to imagine them through. 
On the thread that runs through this memoir, I understand Rees’ conception of trans-ness far better than I had before. They include perspectives from other TGD people as well, which helped me as a reader position Rees’ search for a sense of themself. I love the place that they land in terms of their trans-ness: the destination is trans. I love the willingness to accept that space and those questions. That capacity impresses me, and I’m all the more in awe because of it.

I usually say if I recommend the book or not at the end of my little spiels. Obviously, yes. Especially if you want a window into the experience of a person who found themselves after society tells us that we ought to have already been found. The generosity of Rees’ words (I want to be more familiar and say Yves - I feel I know them as a friend now!) will be a light for people who need to understand that they are not backed into the corners society has presented us with. Live the questions, indeed.

All about Yves Notes from a Transition

Reviews