What Becomes You by Aaron Raz Link and Hilda Raz

“This deeply personal collaborative memoir details the multiple layers of the journey Child and Mom take on the road to Sarah becoming Aaron. This book can’t help but challenge the readers to rethink what they know about gender, sex, family relationships, and themselves. A compelling narrative, this is the best book I’ve read this year.”—Angel Curtis, OutSmart

“Scientist Link begins his fascinating account of gender reassignment by explaining scientific classification. . . . Raz writes of her child with rare and moving candor. . . . Mother and son’s poignant account becomes one of steadfast maternal love in the midst of changes only partly physical. Both knowingly return, always, to the terrain of the heart.”—Booklist

“A blend of essay, memoir and intergenerational dialogue, this title is stranger—and smarter—than the average transsexual memoir. . . . Link narrates his transition from female to male over the first 200 pages. His writing is hilarious, thoughtful and often poetic. . . . Link’s mom, Raz, takes over for the next 100 pages. . . . [An] oddly moving, more illuminating and memorable than a straightforward memoir could have been.” —Publishers Weekly Web-Exclusive

“There’s no shortage of light gay fare from mainstream publishing, but university presses are increasingly doing the heavy lifting. . . . What Becomes You [is] one of the hottest memoirs in the category this year.”—Publishers Weekly

“Link tells the story with sharp emotion . . . [and] often startles with his acute observations. Raz writes in a clearer narrative style and her careful introspection adds to this already nuanced story. . . . [Link and Raz] continue to surprise and challenge us as they pull from their knowledge of biology and feminism, and fairy tales and psychiatry, to wrestle with understanding Link’s transsexuality. The memoir welcomes readers into a study of the struggles and complexity of relationships in any family.”—Bloomsbury Review

“What Becomes You is the best memoir I’ve read in a decade. It is close to the bone, poetic without an ounce of sentimentality, full of humor and humanity, and excruciating in its self-examination. . . . This book is what happens when two extraordinary writers share intimate tales of self-discovery in prose that’s both exquisite and accessible.”—Glenn Scofield Williams, JustOut

“Aaron Raz Link’s story is a vital contribution to the oeuvre of transgender literature. . . . [H]is writing is potent and well crafted. . . . Hilda Raz’s story is similarly an important part of the transgender oeuvre. . . . Throughout the book, she strikes an emotive tone that is both resonant and authentic. . . . What Becomes You is a superb memoir. As finely wrought as Minnie Bruce Pratt’s S/he, it is careful and tender while simultaneously confrontational and challenging.”—Julie R. Enszer, Lambda Book Report