Birthday by Meredith Russo | BOOK REVIEW

Book: Birthday by Meredith Russo
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ
Pages : 300
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Life Always forces you to move, one way or another, whether you're bursting into sunlight or swimming down."

The more contemporary books I read, the more I learn about things which are not being discussed around me: things we need to talk about to provide inclusion of every person into our society and create a safe environment for people of all sexualities. I really urge my fellow readers to mark this book, look it up and add it to your TBR!!!

What is it about? It's about two boys born on the same day and how their lives transform  from the age of 11 to 18. It deals with a lot of  issues - Sexuality, acceptance and  discrimination. 

When I picked up this book, I had no clue what it was about. While reading it, I felt a plethora of emotions for these two characters, especially Morgan. Meredith Russo portrays these two characters in the backdrop of a small town in America, where being anything apart from straight gets you labeled as a Freak. Morgan is born as a boy but feels like a girl sexually. She's Trans-gender. She has to live through a body which feels alien or foreign to her and navigate through a small minded town with this crushing knowledge that she may never get to live her life as openly as she wants. 

I personally felt immense empathy for her character because the one person who you are always true towards, is yourself and Morgan isn't able to do something so fundamental. There may be a few Morgan amongst us and unable to live life to the fullest because our society has failed to accept everyone the way they are.

Eric doesn't understand what he feels about Morgan and they are shown to be drifting apart from each other many times before both of them realise what they both want and feel. Their journey is full of heart wrenching moments which made me realise the struggle which a transgender person or people of LGBTQ go through. 

The writing is breezy and comprehensible, targeted towards a younger audience but can be read by all! The book can be read as a part of a book club  since it offers discussion questions which helps create a platform for conversation and dialogue.  

Trigger warnings : self hate, bullying, physical abuse and suicide!!!