My oldest daughter bought this book for herself several years ago and loaned it to me in mid-November. It's also a movie starring one of our very fave British actors. We haven't seen the movie yet.
The book is loosely based on the real life of Danish artist Einar Wegenar. I had never heard of him before this book.
STORY SUMMARY
Einar Wegenar is married to California-born artist Greta Waud.
They live in Copenhagen and it is the 1920s. They have been married for a few years yet what do they do now?? One of them wants to change.
It all started when Greta asked Einar to put on a dress and stockings to sit for a portrait painting that she was working on of their friend and Opera singer, Anna. Anna was unable to make it to the sitting that cold winter afternoon so Einar filled in for her.
And then....the ball got rolling towards major emotional and physical changes.
Einar was born with a secret. He didn't learn of exactly what it was until he was much older. He was born with male and female organs.
And thus began a long journey of transformation.
MY THOUGHTS
I liked this and didn't like this book. I found it fascinating at first as I thought it was going to be about a man who identified as a woman (transgender) but what actually was a condition known as hermaphrodite. When I thought it was leading towards him being born male but identifying as female, I was interested given our current culture in America and I thought it would be interesting to see how over the last century, things have developed with this issue.
But in the middle, we discover that Einar was born with ovaries as well as testicles.
And apparently he underwent an operation to remove the male organs and acquire an uterus. If you read about the real Einar, some of this "historical fiction" is true but most of it is the sole imagination of the author and she does say that at the very end of the book.
To me, Greta was the real hero in this story. She saw something in Einar and wanted the best for him/her.
After undergoing the first change, Einar legally changed his name to Lili Elbe.
She ended up dying of complications from the uterus transplant.
It's a moving story, yet rather sad.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.
2 comments:
Interesting. When I saw the ads for the movie I made the same assumption.
The movie was good but it did makemone think he was transgender and not actually a hermaphroditie.
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