did not like this due to the writing style. not for me at all. not like the blurb at all, will not be reading more by this author just not to my fancy

I think that the students in our school library need to hear lots of diverse voices and read stories and lives of many different kinds of people and experiences. When I inherited the library it was an incredibly sanitised space with only 'school readers' and project books on 'the railways' etc. Buying in books that will appeal to the whole range of our readers with diverse voices, eclectic and fascinating subject matter, and topics that will intrigue and fascinate them was incredibly important to me.
This is a book that I think our senior readers will enjoy very much indeed - not just because it's well written with an arresting voice that will really keep them reading and about a fascinating topic - but it's also a book that doesn't feel worthy or improving, it doesn't scream 'school library and treats them like young reading adults who have the right to explore a range of modern diverse reads that will grip and intrigue them and ensure that reading isn't something that they are just forced to do for their English project - this was a solid ten out of ten for me and I'm hoping that our students are as gripped and caught up in it as I was. It was one that I stayed up far too late reading and one that I'll be recommending to the staff as well as our senior students - thank you so much for the chance to read and review; I really loved it and can't wait to discuss it wth some of our seniors once they've read it too!

The title of this book suggested it was an academic feminist essay so I was surprised to find it is a memoir. I'd never heard of Jill Soloway or her work previous to reading this book but in cases like this before it hasn't stopped me enjoying it. I found the sections about the trans father most interesting and the name-dropping and the overdetailed parts about the TV show very much the least. The writing is patchy - veering from prosaic to verbose and overblown. I didn't really warm to Soloway who seemed to me a little self-absorbed nor was I entirely comfortable with her reactions to the allegations of sexual abuse on her show. While it did have a few insightful things to say about identity, there wasn't enough to warrant the grand title.

Feminist storylines are always hard to review. It is difficult to review such harrowing real-life scenarios. However, for the sake of a fictional story, this wasn't perfect but was emotionally devastating.

She Wants It by Jill Soloway is a celebrity memoir about the creation of the television programme Transparent.

I have never heard of the TV show ‘Transparent’ and thus perhaps I am not the target audience for this book. I didn’t really have an opinion on it.

Nonetheless the book itself was well written and I can see that fans of the show would find it enjoyable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced read copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

When I received this book to review I really was not sure what to expect. I had no clue as to who Jill Soloway is, I was just interested in the topic. That said, the title of the book is very misleading because this is very much an account of Jill’s life and her struggle with gender identity.

I am not mocking her for this, I am applauding her for sharing her story and the struggles she too has faced. We tend to believe that successful people have never faced the same issues as the ordinary person, so Jill’s book is a breath of fresh air when it comes to the issues surrounding gender identity and even the #MeToo movement.

As is the case with all personal stories, the book was kind of slow in places. There are moments where you wonder what the point is she is trying to get to, but get to it she does.

Having never heard of Jill before reading this book I don’t really have that much to say with regards to how she may have come across in a book versus media personality sort of way. My opinion is that she comes across as strong and determined. That she doesn’t let anything get in her way. Having said this, she does have struggles just like anybody else.

All in all this book is an excellent read. Informative and thought-provoking.

I don’t think I altogether expected to enjoy reading a book by the creator of an Amazon series about the father of extended family who decides to come out as a woman. I thought there might be quite a bit of diatribe, self-righteousness and an element of look at me! It says a lot for Jill Soloway’s book that I came away from it wanting to watch the series.

The book is basically an account of how Transparent came to be shown on the screen and how it has clearly been quite a struggle not only to sell the idea but then to produce it without offending too many of the general public and, more specifically, all of those involved in debates about gender. It’s also a true story about Jill Soloway’s family and I do wonder about the ethical dimensions of that but I think she pulls it off. One way she did this was by assembling an excellent team of people, one in which women, trans people and the LGBT community were probably over represented and that makes a nice change.

It clearly wasn’t easy. Along the way she discovered her own sexuality, split up from her husband and must have caused some havoc for her own kids – as well as coping with all the public disquiet about the series. This is a warts and all account of what went on including the crisis in Series 4 where the lead actor, who of course was playing a trans parent, was accused of inappropriate behaviour within the #MeToo debate.

The book doesn’t really end. It simply rolls along recounting a life lived with some stunningly successful series including Six Feet Under and I Love Dick. Jill Soloway writes really well but, when you think about it, her most successful programmes sound like a series of conversations you might have with friends even if sometimes taken to extreme levels! Making those conversations sound both distinctive and personal is a real achievement and she manages to do the same in this book.

Soloway’s memoires deals with her bringing her show Transparent to fruition and finding herself in the process. This is mainly a book about labels, stereotyping and the identity of gender issues which comes across very strong. Using her own political stance as the way to push through her ideologies and beliefs, the book sometimes comes across as a soap box to push these on to the reader instead of opening the mind of the reader.

Soloway does come across as a self-important manifest that does become a bit preachy at times which gets in the way of the natural story. It is a shame that she wasn’t able to put the ideals and ideologies that were put in place in her critical acclaimed series and open the mind of the reader in the same way. It is a shame as her story is a very interesting one but it is bogged down.

The autobiography is written from a critical stance. The writer is critical of her life, her sexuality, her position in the media, her role in the family, etc. This is not written from a self defacing referential way but rather a harsh critical tone that leads you to believe that she is full of self-importance. I understand what she was trying to do by breaking down barriers, opening doors but not quite sure if the book really accomplishes what it sets out to do.

The information and the coming together of the series of Transparent were very informative and was worth the read. This is where the story comes to its own and while it does trace the four seasons and does somewhat tackles the Jeffrey Tambor situation which is very grey in the book. Understandably, she chooses her words very carefully. As the new season without Tambor will be coming to air in the near future, the hint of mystery works well to help pique the interest for the new season.

The book is basically about labels at the end of the day. How we label ourselves, label other people, labelling by gender, sexuality, ethnicity, etc. This is where the book becomes a bit problematic because Soloway then gets hung up on the labels and everyone she is associating with, is also hung up on these labels and what they mean. Personally, I think the problems in society are based on these labels we make for ourselves. Look at each other as individuals instead of parts of dysfunctional tribes, may lead us to the acceptability everyone is reaching for. Her views of men is very eschewed and simplistic and uses them as scapegoats of her life, as it is told from one point of view, it is hard to say if her analysis is correct or not. My understanding from what I read, is she is at times is a strong woman with episodes of neurotic tendencies looking to victimise herself within her art and life.

Overall, Soloway is very talented writer and at times the book is very interesting and enjoyed reading around 60% of the book. When we get to the self politics and pushing gender issues to the foreground which is the remaining 50% of the book, it does get lost in the overall structure of the book. Soloway is can write but unfortunately for me, this book is at best mediocre.

Jill Soloway is an engaging writer, this book is about how she had the idea for Transparent and the journey about how it came into being and its roller coaster journey. It also charts the various ups and downs of her/their own personal life including coming out as non binary and the various relationships that they are involved in along the way. An interesting read particularly about exploring the creative process and how TV series come into being which I especially enjoyed reading about. They also develop a feminist manifesto which was a thought provoking exploration of how the world works but how it could work so much better. Jill does write about the Me too including the story that affected the star of Transparent Jeffrey Tambor, this section jarred for me as Jill describes their disbelief at the stories and fear that it would destroy the show (for legal reasons there is much left unsaid). I found this jarring after they had written so eloquently about feminism about their own relationship to being trans although there is an honesty and openness which is to be welcomed. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and have bookmarked several pages to re-read especially about the creative process.

Thanks to Netgalley.co.uk for a free copy of this book for a honest review.

I am not familiar with Transparent and am probably not the target market for this book however I still found it really quite fascinating. Its one of those where you go through all the emotions whilst reading it.

I'm definitely not the target here. I do not feel like I should really be reviewing this book because of this fact. I did not like it but it's not really the author's fault

As a viewer of Transparent and an avid reader of TV women's memoirs (or femoirs), I knew I wanted to read it and I'm very grateful to NetGalley for making it possible. All opinions are my own, but bear in mind that this is one of the genres I'm most interested in.

I found Soloway's voice engaging and funny, even when their attitude could run towards a little annoying; a problem familiar to readers of celebrity . They seem self-aware and this allows us to read and embrace the difficult, messy subject matter: the mistakes on the way to better. They describe their wrong choices frankly, and this means a narrative that is uncomfortable but valuable. Soloway, for most of their story, doesn't quite cast themself as an authority but rather a traveller on the path towards a more inclusive and fair future, one which has toppled the patriarchy. They are honest about failing when #MeToo happened closer to home, and that's interesting to see, too.

That said, I didn't find the conclusion, where Jill tries to summarise and analyse some parts of their and their family's experience, quite convincing. This is where reviewing a memoir becomes difficult - am I assessing the text or the person behind it? Impossible to separate. But I feel like "She Wants It" could have used a little more distance, a little more hedging. Soloway had lofty goals and made big mistakes in the process of making Transparent; it is still an important piece of art and television history. That said, I don't think their text quite grapples with how the very attitude of "in the family", the familia-lisation of the workplace, contributed to its potential for harm rather than making it safer. Soloway writes in various places lovingly and admiringly about the nine rules they wrote for the show's creative process, and about how boundaries between performers, creators and original family, between Pfeffermanns and Soloways, became porous; how they (Soloway) in particular used the show to work through their identity and their trauma. And then they say they wished the victim of Tambor's harassment had kept it "in the family" (an impulse they never quite disclaim even as they criticise it somewhat). Perhaps it was a family for some of its members more than for others; perhaps it shouldn't have been "a family" in the first place, because that makes the power differential all the greater. There's a scene in the text towards the end where Soloway honestly describes themself as crying in reaction to an employee's accusation (a familiar gesture of weaponising fragility). It's powerful to read, and good that it wasn't left out, but I don't quite feel Soloway writes clearly enough about how damaging that gesture was and what power dynamic it brought with itself.

It was fascinating, messy, problematic, occasionally annoying, honest and artificial at the same time. I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting.

As a fan of Transparent, I was keen to read this book and I am so glad that I did!

It is a sharp, funny and honest book about identity, feminism, family, womanhood - in all it's forms - and being a creative person.

It provides an insight into the process of creating Transparent from a professional and person point of view.

A very important and worthwhile read.

Even if you don't know Jill Soloway's name, then you probably know their work. They're the award-winning creator behind the TV show Transparent. They also won a directing award at Sundance for the rather lovely film called Afternoon Delight and has written for and exec produced shows like Six Feet Under and United States of Tara. On an entirely different note, if the rumours this week are true, Jill is apparently dating the Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby of Nanette fame (hello, power couple!). This book tracks the journey from when Jill's parent came out as trans, inspiring the hit TV show and setting them off on a journey through understanding their privilege, embracing their queerness and discovering their own non-binary identity.

I'm always really interested in stories about people who discover their queerness not in their youth but in middle age or later. Their journeys are so interesting. Jill is was rapidly approaching 50 when their parent came out, setting off the chain of events reshaped their life. I really enjoyed how honest Jill was in this book was about some of the decisions they've made along the way that they later realised were probably not the best: casting a man to play a trans woman, writing a tv show about this character with no trans writers or actors in the first season, being at the forefront of the #MeToo movement but then finding themselves having a selfish reaction to accusations made towards a man on their own show. More than anything in this book, it is a journey towards Jill discovering their own privilege in addition to divorcing their husband and embarking on relationships with women and transforming their own identity. A really fascinating read - I'm super interested to see what Jill will create next.

This memoir by Jill Soloway is about a lot of things. Mainly it's about the process of making, of creation, of producing a piece of art that you as the artist live within. It's about cultivating a co-operative and loving space where people are free to to contribute and lead without fear. It's about the film industry, about celebrity and bureaucracy. It's about feminism, feminist theory, queer theory, the #metoo movement. It's about self-exploration, therapy, overcoming your fears, and moving beyond the heteronormative relationships and families that society expects. It's about prioritising your family, in whatever form that takes, above your work, and about doing the work to understand and embrace the people closest to you. It's about how to cope when you find out that this perfect, collaborative space you've created has been the hunting ground for a sexual predator, and how to move on from that.

Sometimes while I was reading this, I thought the memoir was about too many things. Soloway jumps from topic to topic, from time frame to time frame, and the result is a bit of a confused timeline of too many aspects of their life and childhood. However, there's something about this confusion that's essential to the book, because the main running theme is exploration of the self through parenthood, gender, sexuality, and artistry, and with that comes a multitude of avenues of improvement.

Ultimately I think this memoir was a valuable read, because Soloway doesn't shy away from their ignorant past, and frankly presents their less-than-perfect reaction to their parent's transition, how they took that story without permission and turned it into a TV show which went on to win them several Emmys, and their hypocrisy in the face of #metoo accusations. By the end of the memoir you can see how Soloway has not only actively embraced new experiences and knowledge to become a better and more understanding person, but literally gone through a physical and mental transformation to inhabit a new, more queer, more feminist world. While I frequently experienced irritation throughout the memoir at their behaviour, I think it's important to recognise that nobody is perfect, and if anything Soloway's ultimate aim of making the world a better and more accepting place is commendable.

This memoir was written so soon after the investigation into Jeffrey Tambor that the details couldn't even be published, and the book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger as to the fate of Transparent - Amazon has given a go ahead for season 5 without Tambor, and I'll be interested to see where the story goes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing, for the advance copy in return for an unbiased review.

A fantastic book, beautifully written and truly compelling. Open, honest and thought provoking. It’s one of the rare books I know I will read again.

'She Wants It' is an interesting and informative memoir about gender, sexuality, feminism, relationships, family, life - and writing tv shows for a living.
Some might find it a rather chaotic rollercoaster ride of a book, because it reads rather like a cross between a direct line into Jill Soloway's stream of consciousness and a diary. Despite being written in 'hindsight', I did feel like there was no excuses made or airbrushing of the picture she paints, we see exactly how her thinking and understanding developed, how she learned to do better and be better as time went on.
The author is unapologetic and frank, a reader could learn a great deal about the process of exploring gender and sexuality spectrums, about striving constantly towards a more authentic self.
On the other hand, I felt that this book suffers rather by comparison, given that there are many books published/publishing recently which inhabit the same general area of style and purpose. It's worth reading, but I've also read others lately which are better, which I would recommend ahead of this one.

Such a great read. Powerfully written with humour and heart, devoured the whole book in two days! Candid and honest, definitely a recommended book.

I had never previously heard of the author or the show Transparent but the blurb sounded quite interesting and different to what I usually read. I do enjoy reading about other peoples life experiences and parts of the book were interesting but she just seems such a complicated individual that it made my head hurt trying to keep up!

2 stars