Cronn-Mills brings humor, sympathy, and awareness to a
sensitive, yet important topic.
Meet Liz. Meet
Gabe. Liz is becoming Gabe. Emotionally
and intellectually, Liz is Gabe. She has been making the transition for some
time, and she is finally able to share her true self to her family and a couple
of close friends. However, just as Liz is having a hard time, her family needs
time to digest and reconcile with their own feelings and sudden change in their
realities.
Gabe is a senior in high school, and graduation is approaching. Soon, Gabe will have the freedom to be Gabe full-time. In the meantime, Gabe has been given an opportunity to share his passion for music – to be a DJ on the local, community radio station where he hosts his late night show “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children.” Quickly he garners a strong fan base of hundreds on the Facebook page. Here, Gabe really can be himself - listeners get to know him– and he can spin some good music. Through the airwaves, there are no judgments, no assumptions, no negativity.
When Gabe
is finally willing to take a chance – to push his comfort zone and put Gabe in
public – he gets burned, and burned bad.
Word gets out on the Facebook page and while the number of fans drops
immediately, a couple of fans just can’t handle the reality of the situation,
and want to hurt him physically.
The theme
of Elvis Presley is found in the creative titles of each short chapter, and is
one of the threads that binds Liz and Gabe to John, the neighbor, mentor, and
friend of Gabe.
Liz is not
gay. She is transgender, and the feelings and reactions portrayed seem to be
realistic – there are those who can’t handle such a circumstance, others have
enough life experience to accept and support Gabe, and others encounter the
roller-coaster of emotions and concerns, and who just need time.
While I
haven’t read all the LGBTQ fiction available, from what I have read, Beautiful
Music for Ugly Children is a needed addition to the collection, for we all
have B sides to our A sides.
