I just finished "Before We Were Trans" by Kit Heyam, and I loved it. Everything was greatly laid out in terms of articulating information, and just ahbfnckcf I really loved it. I knew there were Trans people in history but didn't know there was such a colorful history until I read this. Don't know if Kit has a tumblr, but if you see this, thank you for making such an amazing book. This book will go on my list of books to recommend people, like in the top 5.
In case you were wondering what it looked like, this is the cover. Also, I really love the cover art as well
Reading saved my life. Through it I learned that you can be who you want to be, and not what others tell you that you are. You can have this long journey learning to love yourself. Learning to love other people. The only real difference is the lack of a final battle. Where you kill your abusers. Where you set everyone and yourself free. You probably won't even get a moment of self reflection and honesty from them. They won't come clean about what they've done to you. You just go on living. You just go on learning.
Overall, this book took my heart, smashed it into pieces and then proceeded to burn them. Suzanne Collins does an excellent job at portraying Coriolanus as a conflicted protagonist from the start; in doing so, she manages to make the reader feel sympathy for him. Thus when Snow starts acting up, the reader feels obliged to stand by his side and you yourself feel conflicted- similar to the protagonist.
This by far is one of the best books I've ever read due to the turning of the main character. He starts out as a guy who hates The Hunger Games and the war and over the course of the book, he starts to do small things that would be seen as immoral. By the end of the book, he's betrayed and gotten his best friend killed, killed the mayor's daughter, attempted to abandon and then kill his girlfriend. By the very end, we are met with the cruel and infamous President Snow that is featured in The Hunger Games trilogy. I think this turning of character is done well by Collins because by the end of the book the reader hates the acts that Coriolanus has performed but it's still hard to hate Coriolanus himself after getting such a beautifully written backstory.
I think another reason I loved this book was because it explained the background of the Hanging Tree song. I absolutely loved the song and the second I read the first 2 verses in this book and how it was written, I could just tell that Coriolanus was going to do something bad. I think the writing behind the character Lucy Gray was splendidly done and it reminded me of Luna Lovegood. I think the reason why Snow is pitied in this book is partly due to Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray is a character with morals- strong ones that she firmly believes in. Snow, as established by the end of the book, is an immoral character so the fact that these two characters have any sort of interest in each other, a love interest especially, really allows us to connect to Snow and sympathise for him- maybe even root for him. It's a complete juxtaposition of the characters as well. Lucy Gray and Coriolanus Snow are complete opposites and yet they are attracted to each other. It really displays how Corionlanus needed someone with a different perspective and for all his life that person was Sejanus. When he starts growing away from Sejanus, he turns to Lucy Gray. Snow is constantly selfish, as seen in the manner in which he uses people. Alas, in the end, Snow did try and kill Lucy Gray and then proceeded to run away. While his rebellious acts at the beginning seemed to be the right thing, we as readers witness how all along these acts were all for him, not Sejanus or Lucy Gray.
Oh my goodness, lets not forget the insight behind the white roses over here! Finally, we get the entire backstory to the roses and I think because of that, the symbolisation of them is emphasised. At first, the roses are seen (in the Hunger Games trilogy) as a malicious part of Snow’s personality- a sign of revenge. The white rose was a symbol of purity and innocence - something that President Snow clearly isn’t. To add on to my point, his name is Coriolanus Snow . The irony is unfathomable; his surname and symbol both suggest purity and yet he is the complete opposite. I’d also like to quickly talk about his first name, Coriolanus. For those who don’t know, Coriolanus was a Roman general who thought he was a bit too great and became an enemy of Rome. The fact that his name is the name of a traitor and his second name is Snow immediately foreshadows that he will become a traitor. Later on in the book, Snow disobeys many Capitol rules and is forced to become a peacekeeper where he breaks more rules and then tries to kill his own girlfriend. The inability to maintain loyalty to one side further suggests that Snow is indecisive and only does what is best for him in a certain situation. The white roses symbolise that he is deceiving due to the fact that white roses mean much more than just purity. The complete juxtaposition of character compared to his name and symbol further highlights the manipulative tendencies as well as his need to maintain a flawless public image. It really illustrates his desire to appear as a person of the people. However, White roses are also a symbol of death. This complete oxymoron of purity and death fits in well with Snow’s malicious behaviour. The white roses are alluring- something that one cannot help but be attracted to however once you pick the rose, you are more than likely to die. This perfectly sums up the characteristics of Snow. The roses are a trap, similar to his cunning and crafty behaviour. Snow’s white roses symbolize his obsession over maintaining a perfect public image all while manipulating those around him and destroying those he wants gone, in an elegant and discreet manner.
If I were to improve this book, I'd say there is a part in the middle where it just loses its mojo. I had to put down the book for a few days because I genuinely couldn't manage to continue paying attention to the book. While the mass majority of this book is very fast paced and full of plot twists- the middle just slows down- Of course, it's okay for book to do that and often times, the book itself often benefits from it but I felt that right here it didn't very well. Coriolanus is a peacekeeper and what else is new? I just felt like I was waiting for something that was never going to come. However, I kept reading and thank God for that. Sejanus's death was the saddest death scene I've ever read. I think the fact that we as reader don't know if Sejanus knows whether Snow betrayed him or not makes the death so meaningful. His last words is him calling out for his mother- who we know loves him very much. Lucy Gray is there mourning. Coriolanus is mourning and yet the whole time he is still thinking about himself. Does Sejanus know what he did? Does anyone else know? Worst of all, after Sejanus dies, one of Snow's first thoughts is that he is safe from the Capitol ever finding out what happens. This just goes to prove Coriolanus's selfish and immoral nature.
But the ending of this book is what put the cherry on top for me. I think a specific part of the epilogue in particular got to me. It was went we find out that the Plinths and the Snows are kind of one big family now. In particular, Strabo treating Coriolanus like his own son. Earlier in the book it's mentioned that Strabo would much rather Coriolanus to be his son rather than his actual child, Sejanus. I think it is simply so heartbreaking to see Strabo treat Coriolanus like his son when he didn't treat Sejanus in the same way. At the end it is strongly hinted that Coriolanus poisoned Dean Highbottom which once and for all settles Snow's true nature. It reveals the truth that Coriolanus will kill for power and that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He just like his father Crassus- the person who stole Dean's idea of the Hunger Games and actually pitched it (despite Dean's subjections to it).
Manipulative, deceiving and ruthless, Coriolanus Snow is the evil protagonist and Collins ends the book with a classic overarching loop. In the first Hunger Games book, Snow was evil, and now at the end of the last book ( well, that we know of), Snow has been portrayed in many different lights and has returned to the one that suited him most.
Being a villain.
