John Colapinto

Cal Cunningham is a typical aspiring author in New York City: arrogant, lazy, who would rather do anything but write. So it’s all the more galling when his reclusive, dorky roommate, Stewart, turns out to have written a brilliant novel. Then Stewart is suddenly killed, and Cal seizes the opportunity to become the novelist he always thought he should be.

He doesn’t just steal Stewart’s novel, but also his life, when he begins dating and eventually marries the love of Stewart’s life. Of show more course, there is always the danger that someone knows the truth, and when she comes forward, the story really gets going.

This is a fun book that possibly could have been a lot more. As we watch Cal’s lies unravel, as pathetic as he is, the reader still feels like calling out advice to him from the wings. The plot gets more and more tortured, though, and I had to wonder if the author had written himself into a situation he couldn’t gracefully get himself out of. show less

I read John Colapinto's pieces every now and then in The New Yorker where he is a staff writer, and they are always unfailingly good; most recently he did an article on grease - the fortunes that have been made and lost on used cooking oil and grease. It was interesting enough that I Googled the guy and found he had written a novel, this one: ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

It's an enormously compelling, gripping, "the-plot-thickens-and-then-thickens-again" kind of story about lies, literary theft, show more blackmail and murder." There's a love story of sorts in there too, along with some pretty kinky AC/DC sex scenes, and the book is not without humor. Set in Manhattan and rural Vermont, the book boasts some very interesting characters, particularly Cal Cunningham, the protagonist-narrator, an aspiring and then dishonestly-and-wildly successful young writer. There are constant plot twists which keep you eagerly turning pages. In other words, a very literary chiller-thriller which hooks you early, plays you skillfully, then slowly reels you in, for a most satisfying, if perhaps slightly unbelievable, conclusion. A sly look at what it takes to be successful as a writer in America today, not without some all-too-true digs at the publishing industry. A quick and entertaining read I would not hesitate to recommend. Colapinto is a facile and talented writer. show less

Eight-month-old David Reimer, an identical twin, had his penis accidentally amputated during a botched circumcison attempt in Winnipeg, Canada. At the direction of the famous psychiatrist Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, this child's parents were directed to re-assign David's sex to a girl and given the suggestion to later make available to him vaginal surgery and hormone treatments to grow breasts. This experiment did not go as planned, but Dr. Money continued to show more defend his position and influence others in psychiatry to go along with his mistaken ideas about nature versus nurture. At age 14, Brenda Reiner decided to once again become a boy.

This book is shocking. Not only for telling what outrageous physical and psychological assaults were made on this child, but also for revealing the fact that Dr. Money could perpetutate this farce for years with no loud voices raised against his ideas. This very brave and well researched piece of investigative journalism tells David's story with empathy and kindness. It is an amazing read with a moral lesson of note by the author at its conclusion. In the words of John Colapinto, it is every person's individual responsibility to define for himself who he is, and to assert that against a world that often opposes, ridicules, oppresses, or undermines him. show less

Subtitle: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl

From the book jacket: In 1967, after a baby boy suffered a botched circumcision, his family agreed to a radical treatment. On the advice of a renowned expert in gender identity and sexual reassignment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the boy was surgically altered to live as a girl. This landmark case, initially reported to be a complete success, seemed all the more remarkable since the child had been born an identical twin: his uninjured brother, raised show more as a boy, provided to the experiment the perfect matched control.

My reactions
This made me so angry! It’s been a week since I finished it and I thought I had calmed down, but just typing that synopsis from the book jacket stirred those embers in me. The unmitigated arrogance and superior attitude of Dr John Money made me want to hunt him down and do an experiment on HIM! (But he died in 2006…)

In writing the book, Colapinto did an excellent job of researching the various players in this tragedy. He provides considerable background on the development of sexual/gender identity theory, including interviews with many researchers and reporting from numerous professional journals. He gained the trust of David Reimer, his parents and brother and had extensive interviews with them, as well as with childhood friends, teachers and physicians who treated the boys. I think the book is balanced and truthful. I applaud David Reimer for the way he manages to survive the horror that was his childhood.

(Note: I could not help but look up the case on the internet, which is how I discovered that Money died in 2006, but also learned that both David and his brother committed suicide.) show less