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Title details for Found in Transition by Paria Hassouri - Available

Found in Transition

A Mother's Evolution during Her Child's Gender Change

by Paria Hassouri
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On Thanksgiving morning, Paria Hassouri finds herself furiously praying and negotiating with the universe as she irons a dress her fourteen-year-old, designated male at birth, has secretly purchased and wants to wear to dinner with the extended family. In this wonderfully frank, loving, and practical account of parenting a transgender teen, Paria chronicles what amounts to a dual transition: as her child transitions from male to female, she navigates through anger, denial, and grief to eventually arrive at acceptance. Despite her experience advising other parents in her work as a pediatrician, she was blindsided by her child's gender identity. Paria is also forced to examine how she still carries insecurities from her past of growing up as an Iranian-American immigrant in a predominantly white neighborhood, and how her life experience is causing her to parent with fear instead of love. Paria discovers her capacity to evolve, as well as what it really means to parent and the deepest nature of unconditional love.

This page-turning memoir relates a tender story of loving and parenting a teenager coming out as transgender and transitioning. It explores identity, self-discovery in adolescence and midlife, and difference in a world that values conformity. At its heart, Found in Transition is a universally inspiring portrait of what it means to be a family.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 8, 2020

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781608687091

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781608687091
      • File size: 5083 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      July 15, 2020
      A mother's experience raising a transgender child. In this engrossing and sometimes heart-wrenching account, pediatrician Hassouri describes Ava's (formerly Aydin) transition from male to female with approachable, empathetic language that bridges gaps in understanding about the transition process. The author's unflinching honesty about her initial ignorance regarding trans issues is refreshing, and her unwavering adherence to truth makes the story both compelling and edifying. "Dear God or Universe...if he really is a girl," she writes, "please let me one day look at him and see my daughter, see her in my heart as who she is, not as the boy that I carried and nursed and raised and lost, but just as my beautiful daughter." Early on, Hassouri carefully lays out the reasoning behind the language she uses throughout the book, highlighting the crucial nuances involved in pronouns and names. By doing so, the author forces readers to interrogate their thoughts about terminology, setting the stage for the rest of her story. Throughout, Hassouri makes things clear and understandable. Always candid about her struggles ("despite the pride I felt, I continued to alternate between periods of grief and acute anxiety"), she explores the whirlwind of emotions that Ava and her family navigated before, during, and after her transition. Eventually, Ava began to develop confidence in her new identity. "All I ever wanted to do in high school was disappear into the background and draw as little attention to myself as possible," writes the author. "Ava was not afraid. She put herself a little more out there every day. Stares in the hallways and whispers as she passed were not going to stop her." Hassouri's book joins a thankfully expanding canon on parenting transgender children; for readers seeking a firsthand look at everything that entails, the author offers a moving and relatable story of love and heartache. A unique parenting story that has plenty to say about families in general.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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