Rating: 
Summary: Bittersweet
Review: "Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself" -George Bernard Shaw"She's not there" is a great primer, of sorts, for those outside the Transgender community to assist in understanding the stuggles and sacrifices that Transpersons go through to be themselves. It is not a dry, 'medical grade' book, (which there are plenty of), but it puts a human face on a facet of life theat is puzzling to many.
Honest, witty, and extremely well-written, I picked up this book and finished it in 5 hours. Not that I'm any sort of literary demon, but because I myself am also Transgendered. So much of this book resonates as true, (in my experience), that it now serves as an 'Transgender 101' reading list book for my friends.
If you are Transgendered, or know someone who is, this book will go far in bridging the education gap of this misunderstood, and oft maligned segment of our society.
Rating:
Summary: She was there.
Review: After reading the last page of this book, I am left both with tremendous pity for his wife and children, and a tremendous sense of contempt for Boylan. Not only they had to endure his selfishness, but on top of that he had to put in on writing. I will never forget what John Irving wrote as foreword to his short story "Almost in Iowa": "writing about your divorce constitutes a different form of child abuse". Well, eliminating the very last semblance of privacy for his family (for example, describing the last time he ands his wife made love) is as low as someone can get. I imagine that with the expensive medical treatments and operations, a book deal was mandatory. What a selfish individual. His wife is who put it in best terms: he asked at one point how she was feeling, and she replied, "does it matter?" I give Boylan credit in that he transcribes all this in the book, not hiding the fact of his selfish, self-centered behavior. He forgot that once you bring human beings into this world, your life is not your own anymore. How he manages to beautify his manipulation and end up convincing himself that this is what-had-to-be makes me sick. "Realities ignored prepare their own revenge". A friend asked him after his transformation if his sense of irony was the first thing to go. Obviously not. As a good-bye ceremony to his manhood, Boylan cannot choose anything better than peeing against a tree. He uses his grandmother's silver to examine his son's stool, looking for a marble. He writes a letter to NASA asking to be the first transsexual in space. He even got a reply, and I resent him for eliciting a waste of my tax dollars. I couldn't stand the self-congratulatory reproduction of all the great letters of support and admiration he received. After her tirade against Nora Ephron, he covers all basis by excusing his exuberance with a "sorry, but i'm going through my teenage years right now!" I closed the book feeling that Jim Boylan is just a vain and egotistical individual. A Return to Modesty, please.
Rating: 
Summary: A Return to Modesty, please.
Review: After reading the last page of this book, I am left both with tremendous pity for his wife and children, and a tremendous sense of contempt for Boylan. Not only they had to endure his selfishness, but on top of that he had to put in on writing. I will never forget what John Irving wrote as foreword to his short story "Almost in Iowa": "writing about your divorce constitutes a different form of child abuse". Well, eliminating the very last semblance of privacy for his family (for example, describing the last time he ands his wife made love) is as low as someone can get. I imagine that with the expensive medical treatments and operations, a book deal was mandatory. What a selfish individual. His wife is who put it in best terms: he asked at one point how she was feeling, and she replied, "does it matter?" I give Boylan credit in that he transcribes all this in the book, not hiding the fact of his selfish, self-centered behavior. He forgot that once you bring human beings into this world, your life is not your own anymore. How he manages to beautify his manipulation and end up convincing himself that this is what-had-to-be makes me sick. "Realities ignored prepare their own revenge". A friend asked him after his transformation if his sense of irony was the first thing to go. Obviously not. As a good-bye ceremony to his manhood, Boylan cannot choose anything better than peeing against a tree. He uses his grandmother's silver to examine his son's stool, looking for a marble. He writes a letter to NASA asking to be the first transsexual in space. He even got a reply, and I resent him for eliciting a waste of my tax dollars. I couldn't stand the self-congratulatory reproduction of all the great letters of support and admiration he received. After her tirade against Nora Ephron, he covers all basis by excusing his exuberance with a "sorry, but i'm going through my teenage years right now!" I closed the book feeling that Jim Boylan is just a vain and egotistical individual. A Return to Modesty, please.
Rating:
Summary: Fictional Tragedy. Pure Fantasy
Review: As you might expect from a professor of English, technically the work is adequate. From the point of view of a representation of what truly is going on in her life, let alone the lives of others dealing with gender issues, the work is pure fantasy. If she wrote it to reflect the true dynamics of her own world and what devastation delusion can bring, she's failed miserably. It is a book that falls far short of authenticity and does more damage than good to the transgender movement. She should put her pen down and spend her time playing in her rock band in Skowhegan, Maine.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, poignant, and sometimes deeply painful.
Review: Boylan accurately takes the reader through the confusing mess of emotion and dilemmas that swallow not only those that are transsexual, but all those who happen to be in proximity. She explores that ultimate deep personal decision of having to choose between her own existance that can only cause deep pain for the one she loves, or a life of unbelievable oppression. Yet, with humor and hope as her allies, we are left with a sense of the resiliency of the human spirit as seen in Grace, who may be the ultimate hero of this story.
Rating:
Summary: BRAVO!!
Review: Boylan's new book is funny, poignant, and at times absolutely heartbreaking. The reader is taken on the roller coaster ride that accurately portrays this journey of mixed up emotions and dilemmas, with humor and sensitivity softening the rough spots, and recurrent themes carefully woven into the story.
Boylan is to "She's Not There" as Puccini is to opera! Need one say more? Added 30 NOV 2003: With some time to fully reflect on Boylan's work, I have come to realize that this book was written for the average reader to explore the transsexual issues and should not be considered a deep and serious work. One other reviewer stated that they wanted to see some "blood". While I understand this concern, one must realize that if one were to totally immerse themselves in a transsexual's life, the story could read so bloody and depressing that no one would want to read it!! Being in the center of this very same maelstrom qualifies me to say that. Boylan does shed many a tear, and that should be enough for any reader. I do appreciate Boylan's balanced approach, and I stand fully behind my high approval rating.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting book...
Review: but I'm horrified by the selfishness of James Boylan in his decision to go forward with this surgery, despite the traumatic effects on his wife and family. I had hoped that this book would increase my understanding of transgendered persons, but unfortunately this didn't happen for me. Anatomy is destiny, and a man simply cannot become a woman, regardless of the amount of surgery or window dressing. The basis is in the chromosomes, and these cannot be changed. For him to think otherwise is to live more of a life of delusion than he was living before all of the surgery.
Rating:
Summary: Chance read
Review: Every time I come to the US I stock up on English written novels. I have been out of the loop as to what is hot so I turned to the clerk for advice. She led me to "She's Not There". I was hurried by an impatient husband so I grabbed it along with 1 dozen others and headed for the checkout. Well, the surprise was on me. When I opened and started to read this book my hometown unfolded in front of me. I am from the Colby College suburb. In fact when I attended High School I was briefly employed by the College. Tired of High School activities a friend and myself used to crash frat parties and act like we belonged. Jenny is lucky to be in this area. I think the folks are tolerant of just about anything. My sister disagrees on this but I find most citizens of these small towns all different in one way or another. Perhaps this is what Jenny found. However, I do agree with other reviewers that it did not contain much info about personal or family or even outside negatives. The hospital mate gave a bit of insight of a look on the downside. It couldn't have been all good for Jenny and for some reason she chose not to reveal it to the reader. Lastly, those three churches on Church Street......the middle one is gray and has been gray for the 55 years I walked past it.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing, honest
Review: Finally, someone's written a transsexual memoir that I can recommend to friends and family without disclaimers and footnotes. She focusses on the central dilemmas without wading through chapters and chapters of melodrama. As a transsexual myself, I found this incredibly refreshing. Some reviewers may find it "breezy"; I found it well written and true to life. Not all of us had the kind of lurid, marginal life described in so many accounts of transsexuality. Some of us live quite straightforward lives, accepted in our careers and families as who we are, unconventional as some aspects of our history may be. If you want to be fascinated by the unusual, don't buy this book. If you want a well-written account of someone facing a difficult dilemma that has no good solution, I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: companion piece
Review: First, this book should be read with Richard Russo's Empire Falls, his brilliant novel of small town life. Russo plays an important role in Boylan's book as best friend and reluctant confidant, and he contributed a beautifully written afterword. For powerful context, try to imagine Jim/Jenny on the streets of Empire Falls, and you get a sense of the courage it took to complete this transition in rural Maine. Second, only a comic writer of Boylan's skill could take such an incredibly sad story and find so much humor in it. This book isn't so much a story of a transgendered individual as it is a story of the triumph of humor over even the most difficult obstacles. As in Boylan's novels, this book confronts the essential absurdity of human existence, and finds hope in love and loyalty and friendship. The gender bending premise of this book may attract curious readers, but Boylan doesn't sensationalize this subject. She simply tells a good story that both enlightens and entertains.
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