Cactus Country : A Boyhood Memoir
(Book)
Author
Published
New York : Abrams, 2024.
Format
Book
ISBN
9781419773181
Physical Desc
272 pages ; 21 cm
Status
Description
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Location | Call Number | Status |
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Auburn - New Books | onorder | On Order |
East Providence (Weaver) - New Books | Nonfic | On Order |
Providence Public - Lobby New Materials | OPEN | Processing |
Warwick Public - New Books | on order | On Order |
William Hall - New Books | onorder | On Order |
More Details
Published
New York : Abrams, 2024.
Language
English
ISBN
9781419773181
Notes
Description
A stunningly written literary memoir about gender-fluidity, class, masculinity, and the American Southwest that captures the author's experience growing up in a trailer park outside of Tucson, ArizonaCactus Country is a literary coming-of-age memoir tracing the intersections of trans identity, class, and the landscape of the American Southwest. Set in a trailer park outside Tucson, Arizona, the book tells the story of a young gender-fluid person growing up against the dramatic natural backdrop of the Sonoran Desert. We meet Zo as an 11-year-old moving through a world of giant beetles, thundering javelinas, and gnarled palo verde trees. Although Zo lacks the vocabulary to express it, they experience life as a trans boy, spending summers running in a pack of other sunburnt hoodlums and school years fending off classmates' intrusive questions about the body underneath their baggy clothes. As Zo enters adolescence, they are exposed to the hard masculinity that so many of Cactus Country RV Park's working-class residents embody, and are increasingly troubled by the prospect of growing up to resemble the often sexist, racist, and violent men around them. Meanwhile, outside the trailer park, the fraught intimacies of first love give way to a traumatic sexual experience that further destabilizes Zo's sense of self. Zo stops resisting femininity, but cannot escape the persistent threats associated with moving through the world in a gendered body-or the feeling that their particular relationship to that body is fraught. Still, a spark persists, leading the young adult Zo to leave Cactus Country for college, ultimately becoming one of very few to embrace whatever awaits beyond. Equal parts harsh and tender, Cactus Country is an invitation for readers to consider how we find our place in a world that insists on stark binaries, and a precisely rendered journey of self-determination that will resonate with anyone who's ever had to fight to be themself.
Subjects
Bisac Subjects
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Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Bossiere, Z. (2024). Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir . Abrams.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Bossiere, Zoe. 2024. Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir. Abrams.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Bossiere, Zoe. Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir Abrams, 2024.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Bossiere, Zoe. Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir Abrams, 2024.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
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