Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: citizen. One of the major subplots involves the characters in this book using their rights as citizens to rally around a longshot candidate they want to try and elect.
There has never been an easy time for trans people. That wasn’t true in the 1990s. That wasn’t true before Trump I or Trump II. That’s not true today. Depending on where people live, there have been times that are less bad. But never a time that has been “good.”
This sentiment is at the heart of Woodworking, the first novel by long time culture critic Emily St. James, whose work I have appreciated over the years. A woman in her mid-30s who teaches at school decides to transition. There’s one student at her school who is trans. They form a bond that would not otherwise have happened given their disparate personalities.
Oh and all of this is set in a red state.
What I liked about Woodoworking among many other things, including the central relationship, is how it makes this place seem real. Too often, when writers want to tell fish-out-of-water tales in Trump Country, they do it in the most condescending way possible. That’s not the case with Emily St. James, who I believe from interviews grew up in a place like she writes. The people here feel very real, not caricatured or satirized. And that adds to the tension as Erica discovers who she is and Abigail fights for her humanity.
There is grief in the trans experience but there is joy and love too and those are all explored in this novel. I wouldn’t call it “heartwarming” but it’s not caustic. It’s humane. It looks at its characters through a lens of empathy while never losing sight of its main thrust: to tell a story of trans bonding in a difficult environment.
I do think some of the characters get the short shrift here, particularly Erica’s ex-wife and the state Senate candidate. There’s a subplot with Erica’s wife that I think is beyond the scope of the story.
But it’s not enough to take away from the fact that this is a great novel from a great writer and a good encapsulation of what the trans experience actually is versus what many cis folk — both supportive and not — believe it to be.