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FTM reads more like an extended report than a book -- which is really too bad because there's so much of it (it weighs in at almost 700 pages). Furthermore, female-to-male transsexualism is such a fascinating, understudied topic and this is very well researched. Sadly, Devor was unable to avoid every researcher's worst impulse, the temptation to work every single research finding into the final product. Combined with an overly sociological writing style and an often formulaic feminist analysis, the result is a far less engaging book than one would wish.
Devor's real strength is her skill at interviewing. She has accumulated the stories of 45 transsexual men (people born female who have become male) and these ate really the core of this book. When they reflect on their lives they are poignant, sad, funny and always interesting, and Devor has wisely allocated considerable space to her "subjects" to tell their own story. The section titled "Changing Over," which details how people made the decision to "transition" from female to male, and what impact that decision had on their relationships and their bodies, is especially fascinating.
The trouble is it takes so long -- over three hundred pages -- to get there. After introductory chapters on the history of transsexuals and theories of transsexualism and gender acquisition, almost half of the book takes us through the childhood and adolescent years and family backgrounds of the participants in this study. The relevance...