Redefining Realness

Publisher's Summary

With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Janet Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, offering listeners accessible language while imparting vital insight about the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of a marginalized and misunderstood population.

Though undoubtedly an account of one woman's quest for self at all costs, Redefining Realness is a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another - and of ourselves - showing as never before how to be unapologetic and real.

©2014 Janet Mock (P)2015 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"[I]ntelligent and educational." ( Library Journal)

Janet is elegant in her vivid honest pictures

I found so much depth and honesty in this story. I wish I knew Janet in person. Her strength and realness was a gift and her mellifluous voice was a blessing. She guided the reader (as if holding your hand like a big sister would) as she described such challenging realities. Thank you Janet, and thank you for this next generation of kids who face their own challenges.

12 of 12 people found this review helpful

Inspirational and life-changing

I enjoyed the book, completely relatable to my story as a transgender woman of color

15 of 16 people found this review helpful

A Wonderful Memoir

I've been meaning to read this memoir for a long while and when I saw it was on audible, narrated by Janet Mock herself I couldn't pass it up.

The core of this book is Janet describing her coming of age, a journey she takes us through with gorgeous prose and a refreshingly honest depiction of what her life was like from the time she was a young girl gradually becoming more and more comfortable with herself and doing whatever she could to be true to herself.

It's a great read, Janet's life story one that deserves and begs to be heard, one that gives insight into an experience we don't often see told.

Now in regards to the audiobook itself I couldn't have been happier. Janet has a voice that's wonderful to listen to and an enthusiasm and emotional truth to the way she not only writes but speaks as well.

I couldn't have chosen a better book to start 2016 with and I can't wait to see what's in store for the future of Janet's writing career. And in the meantime I know this will be a book I'll want to come back to and experience for years and years to come.

Thank you so much Janet for sharing your journey!

18 of 20 people found this review helpful

Informative, eye opener...

Loved it... Im not Trans. I learned a lot about being Trans though. I suggest that you listen intently.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Redefining what's possible

Beautifully written journey spoken in Janet's own voice! This book helped me get closer to myself, and to heal past wounds and judgments I still carried on my path to womanhood. Janet has given voice to many women like us or "#GirlsLikeUs" and by telling her story we now know how to unapologetically tell our own.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Great listen!

I really appreciate Janet Mock for narrating her memoir. She shines light on an experience than many people try to silence.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Juxtaposition

Her writing is melodic and moving... Raw yet so fluid. Even if I disagreed with most of what she said, her story itself and the narration were captivating and passionate. I wouldn't read it again but I would definitely recommend it. It's a story that elicits discourse and social thought... One that leaves the reader/listener changed. And that's the true definition of a good book, is it not?

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Natural Storyteller, Fascinating Life

Janet Mock has an amazing story to tell and is a gifted storyteller, bringing people and scenes to life with ease and grace. She is incredibly honest about her life, family, and own mistakes. (Or appears to be.) Some sections of the book are shocking---her involvement in prostitution, her solo trip to Thailand as a college freshman for gender reassignment surgery--and the family history is chaotic. It is a testament to Mock's skill as a writer and overall intelligence that these sections do not come off as tawdry or titillating. She writes with power and dignity. Her narration is good. Th book has a narrative frame that makes perfect sense and even adds suspense (she is telling her story to her bf, who doesn't know she is a trans woman--will he accept hr? reject her?) but it did strike me as a tad gimmicky for such a dignified story. I was entertained, edified, and intrigued by the book. I felt I learned a lot about trans people and gained greater empathy.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I Expected More...So Much More. Quite Disappointed

I struggled ro finish this book. Janet does this odd pause mid phrase, as if she is catching her breath--small, I know, but still bothersome.
I first heard of Janet Mock because of the show Pose on FX. I watched 2 interviews before realizing she was transgender. I was already in awe, and knowing this fact made her seem even more magnificent to me! I scoured the internet looking for more articles and interviews to learn more about her, and of course, I learned of her books. I wanted to read her books as they were released. And I have to say that I am more annoyed and almost disgusted at the level of arrogance she seems to exude and the pedestal she seems to have placed herself on in comparison to other transgender women. I stopped listening about 4 chapters in (after falling asleep multiple times) to do more "research". Janet is obviously a beautiful and intelligent woman. So I wanted to support her, and I wanted to be excited about her. But I can't get past the fact that she seems to want to lord her superiority while simultaneously playing the role of victim when she doesn't completely control the narrative...and her narratives tend to be inconsistent. I don't know that it is possible to be a victim and superior all in the same breath.
As I finally made it to the end of her book--a collection of her own words (words are precious to her), I am dissappointed with her story and perspective...I don't know a great deal about the transgender community, but I do know people. And this book just confirmed for me that though she is beautiful, intelligent, insightful, and an advocate for her community, she doesn't seem to be a genuine or humble person. For some reason, it was really very important for me to see those qualities in her.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A worthy read, if only because of it's rarity

This is a difficult book to review. Ms. Mock's story is unfortunately uncommonly shared and thus carries a significant value, especially in the way she shares many extremely personal and intimate details about her road to self discovery. At the same time, her experience plays into prominent cliches that the trans community desperately needs to move past, such as sexual exploitation during her youth, getting into sex work, flying to Thailand for surgery, ect. While I don't in any way minimize or devalue her journey, her book would have been greatly enhanced with a more thorough reflection or analysis of these aspects of her story and their implications to the greater trans community. She does expound in some ways, but it's insufficient and I fear other readers may walk away with a very limited or skewed perspective on the trans-person's experience and potential. This is a worthy read by a very eloquent author, to be sure, and I hope future works will improve upon what she's produced here.

A note on her narration: I was not a fan. She has a very pleasant voice (think ASMR) but her meter is way off, resulting in sentence deliveries that are stilted and unbalanced. There is little to no inflection, resulting in very little audio interest. Additionally, she has a very noticeable gasping breath in between sentences that grated on me when I could not 'un-hear' it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful