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A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir (2012)

by Kate Bornstein

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3561572,824 (3.9)8
Biography & Autobiography. LGBTQIA+ (Nonfiction.) Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:The stunningly original memoir of a nice Jewish boy who left the Church of Scientology to become the lovely lady she is today
 
In the early 1970s, a boy from a Conservative Jewish family joined the Church of Scientology. In 1981, that boy officially left the movement and ultimately transitioned into a woman. A few years later, she stopped calling herself a woman—and became a famous gender outlaw.
Gender theorist, performance artist, and author Kate Bornstein is set to change lives with her stunningly original memoir. Wickedly funny and disarmingly honest, this is Bornstein's most intimate book yet, encompassing her early childhood and adolescence, college at Brown, a life in the theater, three marriages and fatherhood, the Scientology hierarchy, transsexual life, LGBTQ politics, and life on the road as a sought-after speaker.
This ebook edition includes a new epilogue. Reflecting on the original publication of her book, Bornstein considers the passage of time as the changing world brings new queer realities into focus and forces Kate to confront her own aging and its effects on her health, body, and mind. She goes on to contemplate her relationship with her daughter, her relationship to Scientology, and the ever-evolving practices of seeking queer selfhood.
“A singular achievement and gift to the generations of queers who consider her our Auntie, and all those who will follow.”
—Lambda Literary
“Breathless, passionate, and deeply honest, A Queer and Pleasant Danger is a wonderful book. Read it and learn.”
—Samuel R. Delany, author of Dhalgren.
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Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
A chatty, breezy summary of an often-challenging, sometimes exceptionally difficult life. It provided some useful context to Bornstein's other work, but it stayed too surface level in some ways, did too much "telling" versus "showing," which is a significant danger in autobiography, especially one as wide-ranging and full of sensitive topics as this one. ( )
  localgayangel | Mar 5, 2024 |
Can I give something zero stars? Well, this would be the one if I could. Just awful. Awfully written and very self-congratulatory. Not worth reading. ( )
  Karenbenedetto | Jun 14, 2023 |
I don't know why I left the last 20 pages unread for over a year. I started over and read the whole thing again in a matter of days.

Kate Bornstein has led an interesting life by anyone's standards. There's a little something for everyone in her memoir: she started a closeted trans hippie boychick, then took to the sea on L. Ron Hubbard's personal yacht, rising to become a high-ranking Scientologist and parent who was excommunicated upon discovering a dark secret, and seized the opportunity to metamorphose into a prominent and very out S&M dyke journalist, actor and writer. Pick it up: you know you want to know how it all fits together.

Be ready for detailed descriptions of disordered eating, cutting, and suicidal ideation. ( )
  caedocyon | May 8, 2023 |
The most fascinating part of the book for me were the parts of the book detailing Bornstein's stint in Scientology. Those bits were so interesting that I actually found the rest of the book a bit of a let-down in terms of keeping me engaged. A very interesting memoir. ( )
  wisemetis | Dec 26, 2022 |
2012. Interesting view into early Scientology cult. And interesting queer subcultures in San Francisco and Seattle. Tons of S/M stuff. Kate is a foremother to all gender outlaws, and her words give me life. See her live if you can. She’s a great speaker. ( )
  kylekatz | Oct 17, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
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Dedication
Dedicated with all my heart
to my daughter, Jessica,
and to my grandchildren,
Christopher and Celaina.

Small as my home may be,
it's bigger on the inside and
my door is always open for you.
First words
The last time I looked into a mirror and I saw daddy?
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Biography & Autobiography. LGBTQIA+ (Nonfiction.) Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:The stunningly original memoir of a nice Jewish boy who left the Church of Scientology to become the lovely lady she is today
 
In the early 1970s, a boy from a Conservative Jewish family joined the Church of Scientology. In 1981, that boy officially left the movement and ultimately transitioned into a woman. A few years later, she stopped calling herself a woman—and became a famous gender outlaw.
Gender theorist, performance artist, and author Kate Bornstein is set to change lives with her stunningly original memoir. Wickedly funny and disarmingly honest, this is Bornstein's most intimate book yet, encompassing her early childhood and adolescence, college at Brown, a life in the theater, three marriages and fatherhood, the Scientology hierarchy, transsexual life, LGBTQ politics, and life on the road as a sought-after speaker.
This ebook edition includes a new epilogue. Reflecting on the original publication of her book, Bornstein considers the passage of time as the changing world brings new queer realities into focus and forces Kate to confront her own aging and its effects on her health, body, and mind. She goes on to contemplate her relationship with her daughter, her relationship to Scientology, and the ever-evolving practices of seeking queer selfhood.
“A singular achievement and gift to the generations of queers who consider her our Auntie, and all those who will follow.”
—Lambda Literary
“Breathless, passionate, and deeply honest, A Queer and Pleasant Danger is a wonderful book. Read it and learn.”
—Samuel R. Delany, author of Dhalgren.

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