Soar, Adam, Soar

February 1, 2019

When former priest Rick Prashaw's wife was pregnant, she was certain they were having a boy, and even after the child was assigned female at birth, the couple decided to keep Adam as part of their baby's name. "Rebecca Danielle Adam Prashaw" taught his father the power of names, what they hold and how they contain us, especially--but not exclusively--for individuals who identify as transgender. Here, Prashaw, drawing on the words of his late son, relates Adam's coming out as a transgender man, not as something that happened in an event or as a lightbulb moment, but rather that "Adam was there all along." Prashaw captures Adam's challenges with embodiment, not only in relation to gender and sex but also through his struggles with epilepsy. Photos evoke a sense of physical battle, with scars on Adam's face serving as a testament to his great strength. With the honest and empathetic tone of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, this account diverges from foundational memoirs such as Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw, Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues, and Julie Serano's Whipping Girl because of its mostly secondhand nature. VERDICT Prashaw's compassionate, authentic, and wise words make this a powerful contribution to the emerging genre of transgender life writing.--Emily Bowles, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2019
?Adam was born in the wrong body?a boy in a girl's?though it would be 20 years before he came out as transgender and began his transition. But there is a much more to his story than this. From a very young age, he was diagnosed with epilepsy. He would undergo two brain surgeries to attempt to correct this condition, the first operation being unsuccessful. The second appeared to succeed; it was two months without a seizure when Adam, then 22, suffered another episode when he was alone in a hot tub. By the time he was discovered, he had been underwater for 12 minutes. Though a medical team worked heroically to save him, it was too late. In death, he helped others to live, however, by having chosen in life to be an organ donor. His decision helped save four lives. Rick Prashaw, Adam's father, celebrates life in this moving memoir, joined, in a sense, by Adam himself, whose musings and social-media posts enrich the narrative. The result is both specific and universal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)