I absolutely loved this hopeful, beautiful novel about solidarity, the development of identity, and the strength of community and love and acceptance. Noah is a survivor of a devastating hurricane that destroys Houston. Evacuated to Dallas, he's given shelter in an athletic arena, where neighborhoods of similar folks spring up. There he finds other trans people who are--like him--in need of medical care and emotional support. And to top it all off, Noah is being haunted by his great-grandfather Abe, whose presence has been both life-saving and disquieting. Over the course of several weeks, Noah and his new friends form tight bonds, face very real and very dangerous transphobia and other forms of bigotry, and begin to make steps towards creating new lives for themselves.

Kern does an absolutely beautiful job of showing the ways in which trans people are treated by those who are ignorant, unaccepting, or think of themselves as allies but haven't truly gotten past deeply ingrained beliefs to the contrary. They illustrate the difficulties that all refugees from minority groups in volatile situations like those that arise in shelters are forced to face, and show how much it can mean to have a few people in authority on your side. They also write with great depth about the struggles in trying to reconcile religion with lived experiences. Noah is a secular Jew, but in researching why Abe is haunting him, he finds religious texts and arguments that are both enormously uplifting and relatable, and others that make him push back from identifying as a Jew. Based on my own reading, I think secular Jews and queer people are going to feel a chill of understanding as they read about Noah's experiences as he thinks about his Jewish heritage and the way its religious texts can offer both comfort and despair.

This is such a real story, and such an important one, that I want this novel to succeed: I want it taught in schools, I want it chosen for book clubs and reading groups, I want it on library displays everywhere. I want everyone to read it, and hope.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>This is a novella about a trans guy whose Houston home floods and about his life with a dybbuk in a shelter in Dallas. If you read that sentence and thought, "ooh, that might be for me if it's done well!", congratulations, you are correct, this is definitely for you.</p>
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<p>Noah's experiences in the emergency shelter are about as much sunshine and lollipops as you'd expect, but there are some rainbows to be found in the community that he both builds and finds there. It's perfectly drawn of imperfect humans--Kern has noticed that even excellent allies don't always share the same priorities, and negotiating those with kindness and patience in the face of deteriorating conditions can be hard, sometimes feeling impossible. Kern draws these relationships so very well.</p>
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<p>The shape of the ending is particularly wonderful at a time like this: a turning toward kindness and toward community in a world that would make it easier to shut others out. The speculative element ties in excellently with the real world strengths of this novella. I'll be looking for more by Kern.<br></p>
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A lovely story of a young transgender man battling his demons, literally, and discovering what sort of person he wants to be. Also, there’s a killer flood and a roving band of gun-toting thugs. Exciting, heart-felt, transformative. An important story for queer folk and their allies. And, it includes fantastic Jewish representation, especially for people (some of my family included) who are from non-traditional Jewish backgrounds. A fast read, eye-opening and engaging.

I received a free eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not love, i am going to be honest. At first I was like YAAYAYAYAAYYAYAATATAYAAYAYATATAYA this is amazing and then I was like NOOOOOOOOO this is so much worse at the end.