Felix Ever After

The importance of having this book on every library shelf in North America can’t be overstated. So this is not a review, it’s just how I reacted to this book and why I love it so.

When I was reading this I constantly thought to myself how much I wish I had known Felix as a teenager. What caught me the most throughout this book is how comfortable some of the characters are questioning their identities and pushing themselves to think deeper about ways to be, especially Felix. Of course there are sometimes more questions than answers but that is okay, and the ability to even ask those questions in the first place gives Felix a special place in my heart.

Growing up we consume media and ideas that tell us gender and sexuality are fixed, there is no fluidity. But the more I read and the more counternarratives I pursue the more I understand the lies I’ve been fed since my very beginning. There is no fixed way to be, and our identities are fluid in a way that should make the world more beautiful not scary. Sometimes I wonder to myself who I could’ve been if I wasn’t so afraid to push myself out the binaries of society. Would I have had the courage to explore my own thoughts on being bisexual? Would I have pushed back on what was expected of me as an Asian woman?Instead of pushing myself to think outside the binary of society I pushed those parts of myself down and ignored them. Instead I told myself that to be beautiful and to be feminine meant having long, flowing gorgeous hair and crystal blue eyes to match, there was no other way to express femininity. Felix Ever After is like a soothing balm for the soul, especially for the BIPOC LGBTQ community, but there is a message here for everyone.

I am still afraid of saying this because of how I know it could be received, but I don’t care. I am raising a child and I need to talk the talk and walk the walk, so thank you Felix for showing me the way. I think about this question often by @alokvmenon , “What part of yourself did you have to destroy to exist in this world?” After reading this. I think I know my answer. And to my friends being harmed by that awful writer. I love you as you are. I know Felix does too.

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