Parrotfish, by Ellen Wittlinger
Wittlinger, Ellen (2007). Parrotfish. NY: Simon and Schuster. 294 pages.
Grady’s always has trouble figuring out who, exactly, he is. As a young high school student, Grady–then known as Angela–came out as a lesbian; however, acknowledging a love for women only seemed like part of the process. Acknowledging the uncomfortable feeling that she didn’t exactly belong in a female body and would like to live as a male was not easy, but, following the Thanksgiving holiday, Angela decides to return to school as Grady and “perform” gender in the way that feels the most natural, the most right.
As a “new” kid, Grady doesn’t exactly get a warm welcome. Grady’s younger sister is embarrassed by her transgendered brother and Grady’s former best friend shuns him in an effort to get in with the popular crowd. The only person who takes Grady’s transition in stride is Sebastian, the nerdy guy who has been assigned a locker next to Grady’s.
Michael Cart, writing for Booklist, called this novel “nonthreatening” and I have to agree with his assessment and his judgment of the novel as perhaps incomplete because of this treatment. That said, by not hitting us over the head with transition details and titillating information (how does Grady bind his breasts? Does Grady “stuff” his pants?), Wittlinger emphasizes the humanity of the character and, in downplaying the transgender issue (Grady faces some logistical difficulties in gym and gets bullied by some jerky popular kids), doesn’t raise the central conflict from structural to political. On one hand, this works well; it becomes easier to “forget” that Grady is transgendered and, I think, that is Wittlinger’s intention. However, I’m not certain (and this my political self talking here) that we can ever engage with this subject (at least in “today’s society”) without bringing in politics to some degree.