Felix Ever After

 

Rating: 3 for learning more about trans complexity

My Thoughts:

In simple terms, this is a love story. 

In more complex terms, this is about the dangers of labeling. Although as a society we now have many more terms (LGBTQIA+++), there is a danger in even labeling because it forces people to choose even if the full of a label like transfemale does not quite fit. It pigeonholes people.

I have stopped using the term BIPOC author or AAPI author (even if I used it here before). Mostly because even saying an author of color not just (black, indigenous people of color OR asian american pacific islander) creates a white and north american normative.

In Hawaiʻi most locals refer to the states in North America as the "mainland." I call Hawaiʻi my mainland = main land. Instead, I refer to the states in North America as the continent. So my youngest son lives in Portland, or he lives on the continent, not the mainland.

All of these are just labels that are meant to remind us brownies of who is in charge or what is "normal." The book Felix Ever After taught me that even within the transgender realm, there are nuances and labels and that all are acceptable ways of identifying oneself. I just want to point out that in the Hawaiian language, there is a gender less pronoun, ʻoia, that can be used to push back against this need to label ourselves with our pronouns. It is so unnecessary and this book talks about that same thing which is the harm of having to choose and label oneself. 

From the Publisher:

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle....

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.

Publication Information:

Author: Kacen Callender

Publisher: HarperCollins (May 5, 2020)

Print length: 362 pages

Grade level: 9-12

Source: Hawaiʻi Public Library