From My Bookshelf: Laurie Frankel

This novel was recommended to me and I loved it.  Much like “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion, it deals with a difficult subject yet has moments that are hysterically funny.

Claude is the youngest son of Rosie and Penn.  The older four are rambunctious, wrestling, farting, shoving, always starving boys.  Claude wants to be a girl when he grows up.

And so the family embarks on this journey where Claude becomes Poppy.  Parenting is always hard and is especially hard for parents to take a leap into the unknown where parents try to support and love their kids no matter their choices.  Easy is not part of the equation.  Plans go sideways.  Secrets explode when we are least prepared – or are we ever prepared??  This big hearted family story is a joy to read.

Yes, there is heartbreak, there are blood gushing wounds,  there are the stresses of running a household of seven when even getting dinner on the table is often a challenge.  Mostly, this story just feels real and familiar.  If you are a parent you have dealt with the fairy tales, the peanut butter fight at the school, one child who is feeling neglected, being chastised at work for taking off early for yet another family crises.

Reading this book I laughed, I cried, I remembered being a parent of young children. “This is a novel everyone should read. It’s brilliant. It’s bold. It’s time.” ~ Elizabeth George

In Buddhism the central and only focus is revealing one’s highest humanity.  Issues related to gender or sexuality are not of any particular focus, as they are private matters.