If I Was Your Girl Essay

Like in most young adult romance novels, there’s confusion, levity, and of course, awkwardness, but “If I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo is indeed a book like no other, heartwarming and important at the same time. Transgender teen, Amanda Hardy (formerly known as Andrew) had attempted suicide after being bullied and unaccepted, “ For as long as I could remember, I had been apologizing for existing, for trying to be who I was, to live the life I was meant to lead. (273) ” - from “If I Was Your Girl”. She struggled finding people others who would accept for who she truly was. Nevertheless, Amanda is an incredibly raw character with such a tremendous heart and full of hope whom readers will be inspired by.
At first I found this novel as more of something you would read if you wanted to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community. More commonly referred to as the gay community, LGBTQ+ is a community grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and more (+). However, I now realize that anyone, regardless of age or identity should read this book owing to the fact that not only is it inspiring but thought-provoking and real to it’s audience. It’s a story that sums up many life
I wasn’t sure if the author had used improper English or meant the title to be that instead of “If I Were Your Girl”. Another question I had while reading this book was whether or not the author used her own knowledge on transgenders or if she had done research and spoken to transgenders. But after finishing the book and reading the author’s note, I found out that the author herself is a transgender who also had difficulty figuring out her sexuality, “ I spent the better part of two decades trying to convince myself that I wasn’t something I knew myself to be because I didn’t fit a very specific, very toxic model of … society …” (from “A NOTE FROM THE