This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me! The author perfectly captures what it’s like to grow up queer and trans in a small, conservative town, including the quintessential homoerotic best friendship with your girl best friend. The switches between the past and present were done in a very satisfying way that always kept me reading the present chapters in suspense to find out what happened in the past. I love the representations of different generations of trans and queer people in this story and how they interact, such as Max and Sylvia, Max and Dakota, and Max and his students. The present-day chapters have very good reflections and insights into what his family and friends must have been going through in the past that influenced how they treated others or reacted to certain situations, such as Jules and his mom, and this understanding was very refreshing to see, even if he didn’t forgive these people for their actions. Max looks back on his childhood while acknowledging its more problematic aspects or the language that was used, but still honestly depicts what happened and what was said, which I also appreciated. Overall, I just loved the depiction of a little kid being too weird and queer for a small town that can see their queerness before they can, as that’s how I look back on my own childhood with more clarity. The characters also felt incredibly real and complicated.
The present-day chapters introduced lots of interesting commentary on young queer people trying and struggling to interact with older queer people, or queer elders who may not be up to date on newer labels for gender identities and sexualities. I liked seeing Max’s growth in accepting that queer and trans youth are kind of doing their own thing that’s different from how he grew up as a bi trans boy and that he has more to learn, as he did seem too dismissive of newer queer and trans labels for some of the book. The ending was very satisfying, and I am happy with how everything wrapped up with Sylvia and Dakota because I was incredibly nervous for them both for most of the story.

I’m a huge fan of Hansbury’s previous work Vanishing New York (which he published under the pseudonym Jeremiah Moss), so when I learned he had written a novel, I knew I had to read it. Although this story is a work of fiction, it is strikingly similar to Vanishing New York. In that book, Hansbury details the decades-long hypergentrification of New York City, highlighting the dichotomy between the dangerous yet vibrant days of the ‘80s and ‘90s and the safe yet sterilized city today. The sleazy dive bars and seedy strip clubs that gave the gritty city its character have been replaced with squeaky-clean bank branches and luxury apartment buildings, erasing parts of the city’s history that might make people uncomfortable. In this book, Hansbury oscillates between the past and the present, exploring a different dichotomy. Our narrator, Mel in the past and Max in the present, takes us into his childhood on the journey of his trans awakening, and into his adulthood, where he works with queer and trans youth who no longer struggle to have such awakenings. But because they only know a culture in which queerness is accepted, even celebrated, they refuse to acknowledge parts of queer history that make them uncomfortable.

Hansbury’s prose throughout the entire book are lyrical, but the parts taking place in the past were most captivating. It’s 1984 and Mel, an egg not yet cracked, has no concept of transgenderism until meeting Sylvia, a badass transwoman who returns to small-town Massachusetts to take care of her mother’s estate. Sylvia comes from the ‘80s New York Hansbury romanticized in his previous work, getting her picture taken by Robert Mapplethorpe and partying with Patti Smith. (Patti Smith’s music plays a huge role in Max’s awakening, hence the book’s title.) Sylvia becomes Mel’s window into the queer world, providing him with means and language to understand the otherness society places on him. Unsurprisingly, an impoverished small town in the ‘80s is a less-than-ideal place for a queer kid, and Mel suffers tremendous verbal and physical abuse at the hands of his peers and even his family.

As an adult, present-day Max teaches English at a progressive New England private school — and ironically finds himself in hot water for not being progressive enough with the language he uses around transness. 35 years after discovering his own trans identity through meeting another trans person, Max finds that queerness has become so socially accepted that kids don’t need queer elders to show them the way. They don't even need to come out. He finds himself being lectured about his queerness by people much younger than him who aren’t even queer, who haven’t lived his experience, and refuse to hear his point of view because it makes them feel unsafe. For most of his life, Max struggled to get people to see him as a man. Now, his students see him only as a privileged white man, going so far in affirming his identity that they end up erasing it.

This book is a beautiful, complex critique of queerness becoming mainstream. Max reckons with it throughout the novel, happy that the youth don't have to suffer the way he did, but angry that they don’t acknowledge his suffering. Much like in Vanishing New York, the present-day is sterile and inoffensive, whitewashing over the unpleasant past.

Some Strange Music Draws Me In is essential reading for anyone of any age — queer or not. It simultaneously celebrates the triumphs of queer progress while shining a light on the darkness that came before it.

oh man I loooved this one. such a tender and honest and utterly wrenching book about identity, sexuality, and belonging. highly recommend - though also recommend looking into some of the TWs.

thank you netgalley and ww norton & company for the arc!

What a gift this novel is! Utterly of the moment yet also generous to the past, Some Strange Music Draws Me In, is the trans literary love letter I didn't realize I was waiting for. Hansbury writes with the wisdom of someone who has not only struggled to reconcile the many selves they carry within them, but understands that all people carry many selves and all people struggle. I cannot wait to put this book in the hands of readers of all ages--teens who are in the process of becoming who they are now and adults who are still wondering how they got here, in grown up bodies with the insecurities of teens still surfacing in the most unexpected places.

Content warnings; sexual assault, transphobia, homophobia, racism

Hansbury’s novel jumps between the mid-late 1980s (1984, 1987) and 2019. The 1st person narrator of both, Mel as a child and Max as an adult, is a transman who is balancing the potential loss of his job, cleaning out his dead mother’s place, and reconnecting with his sister, all of which inspire his looking back on his past.

The balance between the two time periods is done well, and both halves have interesting stories that speak to each other. Mel’s story of learning from a transfemme mentor is personal but also a fruitful place to explore what life as an emerging queer was like; these experiences directly contrast with Max’s
contemporary experiences with younger individuals, including their niece. The descriptions of both worlds, and seeing how they flow into and then reflect each other, were the highlight for me when reading.

There were parts of the book that I didn’t like that are probably more personal preference than an issue with the book. There is a lot of sexual content involving minors (14-15 year olds), not all of which is consensual, and predatory sexualization of minors by adults. Note that these are not worse than other coming-of-age novels, but I still didn’t care for it.

Overall, I do think the book is well-written and explores themes towards queerness and self-identity spanning very different periods of life and time periods, and I think many readers will enjoy this book.

I think this can be a great book for the people who need this book, as it seems like it will be a book that people will like. The music references throughout the book don't work for me, but that is for sure just a me thing. I loved the title and description of the book, but at over 10% into this story, I am not as interested anymore. I wish I liked this more than I did.