A 2014 Alex Award Winner
To look at him, you might think Max Walker has it all - handsome, popular, and well-liked, he's the kind of person who manages to move through life without many problems. But Max and his family are hiding something - Max is intersex, meaning he is physically both male and female. This has never really bothered him (though the thought of going farther than making out with a girl terrifies him), but when he is raped by Hunter, his so-close-everyone-calls-them-cousins friend, he finds himself torn over who he is. It doesn't help that his father decides to run for Parliament, making the ensuing fallout from his sexual assault even more difficult, as old arguments and hurts come to the fore again. And then there's Sylvie - kooky, beautiful Sylvie, who Max really likes, but feels certain that she'll run screaming from him if she finds out what he really is.
I really loved this book. Abigail Tarttelin weaves an intriguing story that, at its heart, is about identity, and how that basic knowledge of self - man or woman - can be turned upside down when your outsides don't match your insides. And since it's told from multiple points of view, we see everyone's innermost thoughts: from Archie, the local general practitioner determined to give Max all the information he needs, to his little brother, Daniel, full of concern for what's going on with Max, but upset that he's not around as much as he usually is, to his mother, Karen, who, despite her seemingly perfect, managing-it-all facade, fully realizes that she is not up to the task of dealing with what could happen if Max doesn't outwardly conform to a binary, "normal", gender identity. It's a riveting novel that, even when it takes some obvious turns, still managed to keep me interested and invested. It's not a book I think I would have picked up on my own if I hadn't read it for YALSA's Hub Challenge, but I'm glad I did.
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