Cleavage was a super interesting read. I loved the history and it was well-researched. I'd read more from this author.

This was a beautiful memoir, although I expected something a bit different from this book. I'm very happy with what I got anyways. I did not read She's Not There, so I appreciated the bit of recap and familiarizing with Jennifer. Especially in 2025, it is genuinely brave to be so vulnerable about the details of transitioning from all aspects, and what it actually feels like to move on into your life living as a trans woman. Very much recommending this book this pride.

I don't know why I expected a very clearly marked memoir to not be a memoir. This wasn't my all time favorite book, but that's clearly a user error.

Boylan never fails to surprise, and Cleavage is no exception. It’s witty, sharp, and at times playfully subversive. The narrative dives into the politics of body image and identity with both humor and unflinching honesty. I appreciated how Boylan mixed personal anecdotes with broader social commentary, making the experience both enlightening and entertaining.

I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fresh, bold take on what it means to navigate society’s expectations—and have a few laughs along the way.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

This memoir is uncomplicatedly tender and insightful. Boylan's positive perspective on her childhood fascinated me—I'd expected her to show disdain, naturally, at having grown up as an outward boy. Her "nice" (not always, of course) childhood challenged my preconceptions of trans people's experiences, which is a welcome outcome from any read.

Boylan’s memoir is well-written and engaging in her reflections on her life not only pre and post transition, but also from when she wrote her earlier memoir, She’s Not There (2003), and other books. While some moments can be heavy, the overall tone of the book is one of joy and positivity. I think many will enjoy this book.

I picked this up expecting something lighter—maybe pop culture, maybe essays with a cheeky twist—but it turned out to be a thoughtful and often moving memoir. Jennifer Finney Boylan reflects on her life with honesty, humor, and a sense of grace that grew on me the further I read.

It’s not a tightly structured memoir, more like a series of reflections that wander across time, but there’s something meaningful in that looseness. While I didn’t always connect with the tone, I appreciated the perspective and walked away with a deeper sense of who she is and what she’s lived through. Not what I expected, but still glad I read it.

Title and cover made me laugh so I wanted to read this. It was so vastly interesting. While I've never personally struggled with gender in a real way, I found myself relating and understanding as I read. Really it all boils down to a search for self, and who isn't doing that in some manner? It just manifests differently for different people. I'm still searching, but I find it so comforting reading books like this, about someone who found herself. It lets me know it's possible, even if my journey is less laden by society's judgement. The writing isn't preachy, it's not a lecture. It feels more like a conversation, albeit one-sided. =)

Cleavage is a very misleading memoir by Jennifer Finney Boylan. The cover and title made me think it was a book with pop culture essays, so I honestly didn’t pay much attention to the description. I’m not upset, just kind of disappointed. It took me longer to read than I anticipated, and it wasn’t even that long. It was very interesting to read about Boylan’s journey and perspective as a transgender woman in the spotlight for over 20 years. Her work is important. But I dunno, I just didn’t love her style or her personality, which made it more of a chore to read. 3 stars for me, 4 stars for the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.

I do think that the titling of this book is a little misleading, as it frames itself as a collection of essays surrounding topics of gender and sexual identity. That being said, this book was still worth the read as a memoir from a woman who had come out 20 years prior and how the cultural sphere has changed since then. The reflection that Boylan shared were insightful and showed much growing she has done since her first book.

There are books that explain things, and then there are books that make you feel them. Cleavage by Jennifer Finney Boylan is the latter.

Told through a collection of personal essays, Boylan explores gender, identity, love, parenting, and the often unspoken space that exists between people—between who we are and how we’re seen, between expectation and reality. Her writing is sharp and honest, sometimes funny, sometimes aching, and always deeply human.

What makes this collection so impactful is how it balances the deeply personal with the universally relatable. Whether she’s talking about life before and after her gender transition, her role as a spouse and parent, or the awkward, beautiful mess of being human, every essay carries weight.

This isn’t just a book about gender. It’s about connection. About navigating change, holding onto joy, and making peace with all the contradictions we carry.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy the occasional autobiographical read, and I came to Cleavage after Mad Honey - you know when you want to read more by an author and find out a bit more about them as a person?

I wasn’t sure what to expect… Cleavage takes the form of lifestyle essays on different subjects and different times from Jennifer’s life. It’s entertaining, with some style and humor. My favourite memoirs suck you in so you feel like you’ve been chatting with with the subject and really got to know them, I didn’t quite get that feeling from this book but I’m very glad I read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books

Full disclosure, I am wildly guilty of choosing books by their covers (and titles) while completely skipping the book blurb… and I absolutely found myself surprised by this one. The cover and title do not really match the content.

That aside, I did enjoy this memoir by trans author Jennifer Finney Boylan. Other than co-authoring Mad Honey with Jodi Picoult, I was not aware of her previous works or activism, and this book provided an interesting view into the reflections of Jennifer’s life. She gives the reader insight into her experiences, her youth, and the relationships with important people in her life - her friends, her wife, and her children. My chief compliant was the stories in this book are not linear and bounce around quite a bit, making it challenging to follow a timeline and tie events together. All in all, I enjoyed this memoir and found it enlightening.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one was maybe closer to 3.5 stars and might have been even more but based on the title and description I wanted something that had more of a sociology/commentary with some memoir mixed in and it turned out to be almost entirely memoir with a little bit of sociology added in here and there. If I had known this going in I likely would have liked it more but it wasn't what I was looking for right now.

"Cleavage" is a powerful memoir that explores Jennifer Boylan's distinct experiences with gender. This book delves into the triumphs and challenges of living across two genders. Boylan examines both the divisions and the commonalities between men and women. "Cleavage" offers hope for a future where everyone has the freedom to express their true selves. I was unfamiliar with Boylan before reading this book, and I enjoyed learning about her life. Being yourself can be the riskiest and bravest thing you ever do.

I found this book so interesting and eye opening. It was my first read by this author and I had a great time, I’ll definitely check her out in the future. I love a book that makes me think of different topics and this one definitely did.

I almost decided to tell Net Galley that I would not be reading this book because I thought it was a treatise on the difference between men and women and, in particular, about women as objects. I was just not in the right mood for that type of book. This was based on the title and the iconic cover picture. I’m so glad that I read the blurb and realized it was a memoir. I was initially interested because I read Mad Honey by this author and Jodi Picoult. If you want to learn more about people who are transgender, this is the book for you. It is an insightful, well written memoir from the point of view of someone who transitioned years ago. She tells her story from always knowing she was a girl to actual transition and way beyond. Very timely read, particularly in today’s environment!

I flipped the cover without any expectations about this book (or I might have had one due to the cover photo: it's a damn good photo!). I did not know about the Jennifer Finney Boylan's life and transition and its impact on bringing the experience to the front and center for the people who had to feel hidden, and it's my ignorance.

"The first half of my life was defined by a sense of yearning: I wanted to be loved, and I wanted to be my actual self. I had always assumed that if the latter came true, the first would never happen. So instead, I hoped that if the first came true, that the lack of the second would not hurt so much. I've written about this before— the way many of us hope that we might be "cured by love."" There was so much to unpack in here; I guess these few sentences summarizes her dilemma for me very well (and I don't mean dilemma about how she feels but how us humans perceive things)

I liked how Boylan still had that sunny disposition about her experience even when the US today is not the best place to have that. She kept her family and her truth as her north star and protected her identity. It was her gender that changed not her personality and things she stood up for. This was a good read to hear about the transition.

I enjoyed this memoir about Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan’s journey living as a male from childhood to middle age, including marriage and having children, and then transitioning and living the last 25 years of her life as a woman. I appreciate her sharing her story with such honesty and compassion.

This was a challenging read because rather than a cohesive narrative, each chapter is a personal essay that jumps around in time and space, weaving different stories together. Each chapter seems intended to make a different point about gender, but I sometimes struggled to figure out exactly what point she was trying to make.

I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys literary memoirs and stories of self-discovery, as well as those curious about the transgender experience.

I received a complimentary ARC through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.

Cleavage: Men, Women and the space between us is a memoir by Jennifer Finney Boylan. It’s my first book read by her although I have others on my to be read list. The story goes through her life growing up not feeling quite like fitting, later finding her courage to transition and life after but the story jumps around a bit on what is relevant or relatability in the story. This book is really a love story, loving others of course but mostly finding love for yourself. Finding freedom for yourself. While there are serious parts, and sadness the book is packed with humor too. Sometimes I did get confused by all the names of different people and keeping it straight. I think you can get a lot out of the story even still. Definitely would recommend!