Like a Boy but Not a Boy

Inquisitive and expansive,Like a Boy but Not a Boyexplores author andrea bennett's experiences with gender expectations, being a non-binary parent, and the sometimes funny and sometimes difficult task of living in a body. The book's fourteen essays also delve incisively into the interconnected themes of mental illness, mortality, creative work, classand bike mechanics (apparently you can learn a lot about yourself through trueing a wheel).

In Tomboy,andrea articulates what it means to live in a gender in-between space, and why one might be necessary; 37 Jobs 21 Housesinterrogates the notion that the key to a better life is working hard and moving house. And interspersed throughout the book is Everyone Is Sober and No One Can Drive,16stories about queer millennials who grew up and came of age in small Canadian communities.

With the same poignant spirit as Ivan Coyote'sTomboy Survival Guide,Like a Boyaddresses the struggle to find acceptance, and to accept oneself; and how one can find one's place while learning to make space for others. The book also wonders what it means to be an atheist and search for faith that everything will be okay; what it means to learn how to love life even as you obsess over its brevity; and how to give birth, to bring new life, at what feels like the end of the world.

With thoughtfulness and acute observation, andrea bennett reveals intimate truths about the human experience, whether one is outside the gender binary or not. (From Arsenal Pulp Press)

andrea bennettis an editor, journalist and poet from Montreal. Their work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Walrus and Reader's Digest.Like a Boy but Not a Boyis their first book.

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From the book