I really appreciate Soloway's memoir and the story being told, but the telling of the story did not capture me the way I'd hoped.

Jill Soloway is a married mother of who is considering changing careers when their parent came out as transgender. This revelation inspired their award-winning show, Transparent. However, the revelations have not finished there. Jill finds their self examining their own sexuality and gender identity as they further educate their self and finds their self joining the queer community.
Soloway has taken the story of their own transformation, brought to forward by their parent's transformation, and presented it to readers. I found the story interesting, but I did not feel that they laid themselves bare, which is what I have come to expect from memoirs. I was not previously aware of Jill Soloway's career and felt they did a good job of explaining it for readers, but the draw for me was the personal transformation which I felt was presented more as a timeline with a few deeper dives.

I was immediately drawn to this book because it talks about a topic that is both relevant into today's social conversation and mostly unclear to the majority of Americans. For instance, recently, the issue came up that someone is trying to make it a requirement that women at 18 register for the draft just as men do,. The argument being that it is unconstitutional to do only the men. I would then argue that this is the exact reason why it is also unconstitutional to ban transgender people from serving in the military. How would that be any different? A person is a person, right?
So, I do think understanding each other from a deeper sense is important in these sorts of questions, I am not certain that this book does it exactly how I would want it done. I feel like I have a little too much information into someone specific's personal life as opposed to a more general understanding of the issues at hand.
With that being said, I think it is a start. And for that, I applaud the effort.

#SheWantsIt #NetGalley

I didn't know who Jill Soloway was prior to requesting this book but I was so intrigued by that title and cover. Who wouldn't be? It's an amazing title and that cover really captures the eye. We do have to give leeway and admit that this is a memoir so it's not a barometer for the whole of human experiences. This is just Jill Soloway relating their life and showcasing their struggles. The problem is that I enjoy memoirs that still show character development for the person writing it, that show us their background and read as someone truly speaking to me and wanting to be heard. Jill Soloway writes this as a soliloquy and it just seems like the writer is steamrolling over the conversation without leaving room for your own opinion. I really do love memoirs that give us an inside into Hollywood but there were times when I just wanted to finish this book and be done with it. I'm not sure if it added anything to my experience and glossing over Jeffrey Tambor and his association to Transparency really did seem a disservice to the very cause I thought this book would talk about. Overall, I don' t think you're missing out by reading this. A friend told me that she was at an event for this book and it was a two hour long scene were the book wasn't even discussed and you left unsure what the whole thing was even about. I think that perfectly describes this book.

The manic style of writing in this just did. not. work. for. me. I was fairly interested in Soloway's story, but couldn't finish, due to the nature of the prose. Alas.

I liked this book a lot. Though at times a bit navel-gaze-y (not uncommon from a Hollywood memoir), I feel that Soloway really gives their readers insight into their world. I especially appreciated that Soloway didn't shy away from exposing their missteps and mishaps along the way.

As a fan of Soloway's work, I liked reading about the nuts and bolts of the craft, though I suspect that it might be a little less accessible if you had never watched<i> Transparent</i>.

The only thing I have to complain about is the title, as it leads you to believe you are going to read some sort of riotous manifesto. While it isn't that, it is a pretty great memoir overall, especially in a world that is woefully bereft of memoirs by queer and non-binary individuals.

She Wants It is a Hollywood film and television memoir by Jill Soloway. Jill is the writer/director of Amazon’s Transparent. Transparent is based on Jill’s real life.

Jill’s father was depressed and a mostly absent workaholic father during her childhood. After Jill and her sister, Faith, went to college, their parents divorced.

During an early morning phone call, Jill is the first family member to which her father comes out to as trans. Jill’s first thought is this is part of her story and she was going to tell it. If her father can become Carrie London, why can’t she become the film writer/director she always aspired to be?

Jill polished up an old script and it was green-lighted. After post-production is complete and Afternoon Delight is submitted to Sundance, Jill goes with Faith to meet their father for the first time as a woman. When her terminally ill aunt asks her to deliver a card to her father asking him not to dress as a woman at the aunt’s funeral, she begins writing Transparent.

She Wants It is a great memoir of how someone hurtles the obstacles of getting a screenplay developed in Hollywood. It also incorporates a bit about Jill’s life as a wife and mother of two. There are many psychological asides about life and her own journey to understanding the non-binary world. I was expecting more about the real-life childhood experiences of having a trans parent. However, for those looking for a Hollywood memoir, this is a good choice. It just wasn’t what I was looking for and I never felt connected to the author though her personal story is heartfelt. 3 stars.

Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy.

I've been on such a memoir kick on the last year, but recently I've noticed some memoirs come out that don't really tell a story so much as a soliloquy. This is how I felt about She Wants It. Soloway brings up important topics and gives us a voice that we don't often hear, just as on Transparent, but I didn't lose myself in this story. It really felt like being stuck in a conversation with someone who won't stop talking about themselves: sometimes interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes you just have to roll your eyes and stare longingly at the door.

Name-dropping in the right way, Jill Soloway has created another masterpiece. She Wants It explores the complexities of non-binary individuals as well as providing information and motivation to create and explode and question everything.

While there were some structure issues for me, this is still a story that needs to be told.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Jill Soloway is the creator, director, producer and writer of the excellent Amazon series "Transparent." I am not normally a watcher of fictional television, but the invitation to watch this kept appearing on the swipe screen of my Kindle Fire HDX. Being an Amazon Prime customer, I decided to check it out. The premise of this show is a very unique and provocative one for its time. It's about a father named Mort Pfefferman who late in life confesses to his three adult children that he's decided to live his life going forward as a woman named Maura. I had heard the buzz when this show cleaned up at awards shows such as The Emmys and The Golden Globes. Well, the beauty of watching a series from a streaming service is that it immediately queues up the next episode. Hence, I wound up binge watching my way through this marvelous series, easily completing a full season in short order.

Jill Soloway was spending a sleepy morning in her kitchen with her young son Felix when she got a startling phone call from her father. He told her that he now identified as a woman and was going to call himself Carrie. Jill had middling success as a writer on shows such as HBO's "Six Feet Under," but had many show ideas of her own turned down in the past. However, once she got that fateful phone call from her Dad, it was that spark of inspiration which gave her the idea for "Transparent." Many other channels turned it down, but Amazon gave the show a chance. "Transparent" wound up becoming the first show put forth by a streaming media service to win the Golden Globe for Best Series.

In 2017, Jeffrey Tambor (who brilliantly played Mort "Maura" Pfefferman...the lead character) was accused of sexual harassment and wound up leaving the show. This is all covered in the book very honestly by Soloway. At this point, Soloway had transformed from being a heterosexual married mother of two to a divorced "non-binary" person in a relationship with a woman. She went to a male barber and cut her hair short, stopped wearing makeup, etc. She also became very passionate about equal rights for women in business, citing how men were given a lot more chances in the film industry. When a worker on her own show accused Tambor of sexual harassment, she had to deal with the sorrow of how this would adversely effect her wildly successful show. She grappled with this horrible dilemma, but had to accept the reality of Tambor's departure.

Even though Jill Soloway's politics and lifestyle are at the opposite spectrum from me, I enjoyed reading this memoir very much. It's not just a book about the show "Transparent," but about Soloway's personal life. Once the show took off Soloway's life transformed in a very personal way with her shift to "non-binary" status. She now considers herself neither male nor female and uses the pronoun "they" when referring to herself. She also was relentless about hiring as many trans and queer people for "Transparent", feeling that they were often marginalized by employers. This is a well-written, honest and heartfelt book.

Given the title of the memoir, I'd expected something different from the author. However, I thought it was less about Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy than it was about muddling through the writer's love life and an eerily close relationship with Faith, her sister, that she kept alluding to. It all felt oddly disjointed, jumping from topic to topic. Things moved so quickly you couldn't quite get a grasp on the scenes and what was being conveyed.

Parts of the memoir were interesting. I was fascinated by how Transparent came to be and how the writer was recognizing her own privilege in writing the show, whom she hired, etc. But some of it felt like name dropping and unnecessary. The end of the novel touched briefly on the accusations against Jeffrey Tambor, which also don't paint the writer in a good light during a conversation with the victim.

Fans of the Amazon TV show Transparent will love reading about the life and experiences of the show’s creator, Jill Soloway. In She Wants It, Soloway examines their parent coming out as transgender, and also tells the story of their own shift in identity from straight to queer. This book was also just named a must-read of the season on our fall preview!

In She Wants It, Jill Soloway Gets Down to Biz

Jill Soloway explains the personal and work history behind and the making of her hit show Transparent in this memoir, She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy. “But, that is why I made it, I thought. To hurry up and change the world. Like when Superman flies around the earth with his rope, slowing down the turning of the planet. Except in my mind, I was trying to make the world move forward so that what was happening in the present would feel tolerable for my parent.” AND TO HAVE A HIT SHOW.

Happy to learn why the show went back in German history in the confusing second season so there’s that but otherwise, kinda self-serving.

Wendy Ward

http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

Jill Soloway can tell a story. This very readable memoir describes, from her point of view, her father’s coming out as trans. This personal story led to Soloway’s creation of the television show, TransParent. I haven’t seen TransParent, but was intrigued by the story and picked up this memoir. And, while I appreciate the narrative, ultimately, I found that I was less interested in her point of view as a daughter and more interested in her father’s story. The book, necessarily includes her thoughts, feelings and actions about turning this family story into a public show. This perspective I found to feel a bit Peeping-Tom-ish.

Soloways' written a good addition to the canon of feminist memoirs, but I'm not sure that it's extraordinary enough to stand out over others. While I found the story of her father's journey fascinating, it sometimes seemed that it wasn't Soloway's story to tell.

I have enjoyed her earlier work and this was no different. She is always very honest in her writing and is a good writer. It is a bit on the serious side but with the subject matter it should be. She is always very clear and concise which I appreciate.

I am a huge TRANSPARENT fan, so seeing a book by Jill Soloway was very exciting. I loved reading about her own family and how their experiences were the genesis of the show.

The thing I loved most about the book was her transformation from traditional wife and mother to recognizing her true self as a non-binary human in our world. The creation of the show helped her grow into her truth, one which helped me to grow and develop my understanding.

I think this is a valuable book for all of us trying to understand the new normals that exist. As a college educator, I know it will help me in my own relationships with students and faculty. As someone who is a senior citizen and lived through so much being hidden, surrounded by fear, this was a breath of fresh air and I am looking forward to discussions about this with my various reading groups.

This is both entertaining and enlightening, bravo Jill.

Wonderfully written, compulsively readable and insightful tome from groundbreaking writer/director/producer Jill Soloway (Transparent). The book details her own childhood, her parent's coming out as trans, the trials and tribulations as a writer and director, her relationship with famed poet Eileen Myles and subsequent coming out as non-binary, the accusations against Jeffrey Tambor and its aftermath. An important work on feminism and creativity.