Normal: transsexual CEOs, crossdressing cops, and hermaphrodites with attitude

Author(s): Amy Bloom

Biography / Memoir

Noted psychotherapist and author Amy Bloom deals with her own discomfort - and that of some readers - in an elegant and insightful book that challenges gender 'norms'. Drawing on her interviews with female-to-male transsexuals, heterosexual crossdressers and the intersexed, she shows us people who are both more numerous and more 'normal' than many would imagine.


Product Information

Author is a fiction finalist for the National Book Award A brilliant book on a fascinating, provocative subject "Amy Bloom is possessed of great subtlety and rock-solid integrity ... She is a compassionate writer who, more importantly, loves the world too much to sentimentalize it." - Michael Cunningham

"Part travelogue, part social exploration, Bloom uses compassion and humor to raise the possibility of expanding the American sexual spectrum."--"The Hartford Courant ""[F]luid and deftly contructed essays. . . . Bloom's unwillingness to embrace simple formulations, her insistence on digging deeper, is her book's strength." --"The New York Times Book Review ""This is an important book which says new and interesting things about sex "and "gender and - it is a "very" good read." -"Grace Paley""Fascinating without being prurient. . . [Normal] opens new ways of viewing not only gender but our own inability to accept difference."--"Publisher's Weekly ""Colorful stories. . .stellar writing."--"Entertainment Weekly ""Amy Bloom's wonderful eye and ear are evident. . . She cares for her subjects but retains her objectivity; her great skill is in extracting and weaving from the specific stories her own original thesis about sexuality and gender. This is an important work."-Abraham Verghese, author of My Own Country" ""Such is Bloom's skill as an interviewer and a writer that she removes the sensationalism from the subject. . .She is an excellent writer and a sensitive listener."-"Deseret News ""As Amy Bloom walks us through her adventures in genderland, she draws compulsively readable pictures of the folks she met there."-"Out ""Wonderfully written, thoughtfully and compassionately told. . . A mind-opening, spirit-enlarging book."-Deborah Tannen, author of "You Just Don't Understand ""A moving examination of the variety of gender and erotic preferences."-"Kirkus Reviews ""Bloom dares the reader to be willingly confounded by her always engaging, frequently humorous interviewees while also airing her own reactions. . . An accessible, nonsensationalistic introduction to a fascinating and controversial subject."-"Library Journal ""Bloom's understanding of gender changed radically after her remarkable odyssey into the hidden worlds of female-to-male transsexuals, heterosexual cross-dressers, and hermaphrodites, so will her readers'."-"Booklist"

General Fields

  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : 198mm X 129mm X 13mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 0.177
  • : 9780747564560
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : May 2003
  • : stationery

Special Fields

  • : Amy Bloom