Book Review

Sheila (30-B-2) FPE

I WANT WHAT I WANT, by Geoff Brown. Publ. by Weiden- feld & Nicolson, London; price in UK 25s (US equiv. = $3.50). 226 pp, 1966

This little novel presents, in very effective first person style, the story of a young transexual. That there is some autobiography in it seems very likely - a first novel often contains a personal element, and the private life of a TS is so closely described as to have put some of my friends who tend that way into ecstacies. Be that as it may, I found the book both fascinating and disturbing; the former because "Wendy" does all the things a mid-range TV like myself does and disturbing because these things are done for all the "wrong" (from my viewpoint) reasons! Dressing, making up, going out and passing are all viewed as means to an end THE operation and the delight felt in them is always tempered with that yearning, instead of being its own end and ful- fillment.

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By every test I know, Wendy is a TS; and yet she does NOT get operated on. One try, one rejection by a sexologist - and she gives up. She has by no means exhausted the ways for getting what she wants; but she makes no move in any of the obvious directions. With a capital of $1500, all she does is to live for a few months as an unemployed girl; acquire a boy- friend in a "don't touch" relationship; lose him; and make an inept attempt at suicide. The book ends here, dazed from an inadequate dose of gas and aspirin, falling down the stairs to certain exposure and dis- grace.

She is still only 21 at that point, so there are

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