This cover is obviously genius, and while the book doesn't quite live up to it - what book could - it is pretty great. Elkin covers his time working as Victoria's first dedicated LGBTQI+ outreach lawyer, while he shifts his gender presentation. The memoir covers the exhausting experience of doing community law work, with a focus both on unrealistic case loads and the risk of vicarious trauma and of the inanity of grant cycles and community infighting. And of course, it covers the experiences of transitioning, with the constant guessing game of whether the emotional roller coaster is hormones or prejudice. Elkin comes across as a sensitive young man, hesitating to call judgement without context or doubt, and tackles the worlds of transmasculinity and butch with care. The crochet penis is a surprisingly touching section of the book (not that kind of touching, very PG) and this could go some way to broadening understanding.
I do, however, need to stop reading so many books set in Melbourne, which keeps reminding me of everything I disliked about living there.