January 15, 2008

Truly Haunting

“I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted,” by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Growing up in a haunted house is scary. But when it’s you that’s haunted, it’s quite terrifying.

In Jennifer Finney Boylan’s memoir, I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted, the author writes about her childhood in an eerie house in Philadelphia’s Main Line and coming of age feeling misplaced in her own body.

See, Boylan was born a boy but always felt like a girl. As a child named James, she hid her feelings, appearing as a girl only in the dark (in her sister’s bra and pantyhose). At age 41, a respected author and college professor, she came out as a transsexual and later underwent a sex-change operation (whereby James became Jennifer). Her sister disowned her; her spouse and children embraced her.

Throughout, Boylan shows that living with yourself can be harder than dealing with others. And that coming to terms with whom you are is often a frightening reality.

A haunting tale indeed.

Available online at amazon.com and at your local bookstore.