A review by xxivo
A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar by Harry Nicholas

challenging funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley in return for an review.

I have so many quotes saved from this book because a lot of his story is quite like mine. As I am also a gay trans guy I found it very interesting to read another mans story and how they ended up with this identity. Nicholas did get there quite differently though and took a whole lot of different paths than I did. But it especially because of that it was so great for me to read into such an experience of queerness.

I also have a lot of quotes saved because they made me laugh so hard. I absolutely love it when people share the joys of being trans and make jokes about all of the other bits.
Testosterone, being a strong and dominant hormone, gave me, amongst a deeper voice and receding hairline (thanks), a devilishly hairy bush of a body. I am a wlking carpet, basically. I mean really, it should be illegal.
Reading this quite a few days after my partner made the comment while laughing that I'm still getting more hairy, was absolutely hillarious.

I did enjoy his positivity and strength in transness a lot too. This book made me feel quite happy and proud to be trans. Proud to be a part of that community of wonderful people doing all kind of amazing things. A lot of my quotes are parts like that too, to just save a bit of that positivity for later.
This is not the body that I was born with; it has been made, created, sculpted. it is intentional. It is magic.

Sometimes I still struggle a bit with identifying as gay and one worry he put into paper captured one of mine very well.
If I wasn't having anal sex, was I missing a fundamental part of being gay?
This I recognize as I worry I have myself too, and many other points in his journey into being gay were relatable as well. That he has dated women before but still is gay, and many other of those points that come by in the book. It felt reassuring that someone like me in some essential ways, would call himself gay too. It makes it easier for me to do the same.

The way this book ends in such a positive hopeful tone, in the current climate that feels anything but that, was amazing. It was a read that I really need at this moment, and I hope it can give many others that same trans joy too.