Book Review: Canary: The Story Of A Transsexual

[Carolyn Marie]

"Canary: the story of a transsexual," is an autobiography written by Canary Conn and published in 1974.

This is the fourth such book that I've read, and it falls in the middle as far as being well written, interesting and relevant.

It would have been far more relevant if it wasn't so dated, but that only affects the portions of her story pertaining to her surgery

and experiences with the U.S. medical community. In those days, not only was the surgery very experimental and crude, the medical

establishment was in many ways hostile to transsexuals, causing those TS who got that far to travel outside the U.S. for treatment.

It's fascinating in a way to compare it to modern practices and acceptance by doctors and therapists. In this respect, we have indeed come

a long way, baby.

Conn's style is pretty straightforward. Her narrative is honest and introspective, and there is much in her early life that I could identify

with. She lost me for a while at the point in her life when she became a teen celebrity, as its hard to relate when my own life at that age

was about as boring as white bread.

Her struggles to find herself, the loss of her family, and her experiences with sexuality and loneliness are things most of us can identity

with, and the fact that it was written 35 years ago does not diminish its impact. I therefore recommend the book.

It appears to be out of print, but used copies can be found at Amazon.com.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest ChloëC]

I remember it was about in 1975, probably fall, I had just gone through my divorce, and I went to the Fox Valley Mall outside of Chicago, and probably hung around about an hour trying to get up the courage to buy the book. I'll tell you, at that time, in that place, the last thing you wanted was to be 'outed', and even reading a dang book, could get you looked at strangely.

I'm glad I did. It was an interesting read. I wonder whatever happened to her. One site suggests that she may have passed away because there is no listing for her after 1984.

Hugs

Chloë

[Guest Cynthia Of Creation]

i got scared, i was reading a trans biography in a book store, she's like o no no let me help you, flips it over! o my the suprise on her face, but she was a alittle older asian women, she was very nice about it and pointed me to a chair i could use to read it. so ya stiill uncomfertable but less likeyly they will out you to everyone in th store

[Guest ChloëC]

Actually, I didn't want to have to stand in a line to buy it. My paranoia tends to kick in at times like that, with a fear that people are looking over my shoulder to see what I bought - supposedly to see if maybe there's a more interesting book they missed - and seeing a transgendered book, and then turning to others and saying, 'oh, look, that nice young man is buying a book about that poor transgendered person. He must be a pervert' And then everyone slowly backs away from me.

I waited until no one was near the checkout, rushed up, threw my money down (no credit card, cuz I certainly didn't want a record of this anywhere), got it in the bag and walked out. Mission accomplished. lol

I read 'Mirror Images' and 'Conundrum' when I returned to college and found them in the college library (about 1979 or a little later), didn't even check them out. Certainly didn't want any stuffy librarian to look at the titles, look at me, look at the titles, shake her head, and check them out.

Hugs

Chloë