Pretty A memoir

Nonbinary poet Brookins imagines "a world where don't have to be resilient" in their bold debut. Flitting in time between their early childhood and young adulthood, the 28-year-old author recounts growing up as an adopted, church-going, Black lesbian in the Stop Six neighborhood of Fort Worth, Tex., where their masculine interests and religious antipathy made them an outsider. With the aid of pop culture--namely Ciara and Frank Ocean--they became their own mentor, teaching themselves, in fits and starts, precisely how they'd like to show up in the world. Brookins's writing thrives on well-observed juxtapositions: as the author explored their gender expression, they often acted "toxically masculine" even as they ached to be "treated softly"; medical transition helped them come across as they'd always hoped, but they found that others started to see them as a "scary Black man," with all the baggage that stereotype conjures. Linguistically, Brookins pulls equally from playful internet slang and queer theory, often joining both syntaxes in the poems that punctuate each chapter. Though the final product feels slightly underbaked--there's little narrative thrust--the author's dazzling voice and sure-footed perspective manage to hold everything together. Brookins is a writer to watch. Agent: Annie Dewitt, Shipman Agency. (May)

Stories, poetry, and photographs about growing up transgender, Black, and queer in Texas. "I want to be pretty," writes Brookins, author of the poetry collections Freedom House and How To Identify Yourself With a Wound, who was born and raised in Texas. "Pretty as in the softest form of me possible." In the first chapter, the author describes their mother being told her baby would be a girl. "That was the first sentence of a book that describes my undoing," they write. "That was the first story someone else told for me." Now 28, the author has made concerted efforts to center themself as the writer, literally and metaphorically, of their life story. Despite an admittedly fuzzy recollection of their childhood and adolescence, Brookins describes myriad hardships they faced, including being molested by four boys at church at age 5 ("They are just being boys," one grown-up responded) and losing 70 pounds, over the course of two years during high school, due to the stress of self-denial. This book, above all, offers a potent narrative of learning to live authentically, no matter the circumstances and challenges. Brookins relays their experiences and opinions with candor, usually in a colloquial tone. The author recounts their medical transition and the traumas of the last several years. "Transness is forty-nine lawmakers in forty-nine states wanting your carnages and spirit dead cause you dared to be yourself," they write. The most compelling threads of the text relate the author's journey of self-actualization, from questioning ideas of gender to shedding shame. "My life's work is to make Black people, queer people, and masculine people fall in love with who they are and shed the daily violence of betraying themselves and others," they write. This book is a powerful testament to that. An inspiring and deeply human work. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.