Debbie Harry Sings in French
02 Jun 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: cross dressing, Sexual Identity, transvestite
Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
Published by Henry Hold & Co., New York, NY 2008.
240 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 15 and up
VOYA rating: 3Q, 3P, S
This is was an interesting read that was pretty fun and easy. It went very quickly and would be a nice book to suggest for a summer read because it is nice and short and is something you can pick up and put down a lot without getting too lost. It is a strange little book though, so it might not be for all teens.
This is the story of Johnny, a troubled high schooler who lost his father as a very small child. Johnny has some distant memories of his father from when he was a very small boy, but still, the death seems to have a bit of an affect on him even now. Johnny’s mother on the other hand is extremely affected by her husbands death and deals with it poorly and it creates a strained relationship for the two. From a very young age, Johnny begins to pay the bills and take care of household chores while his grief-stricken mother mourns her husband from bed. Part of their strain is worsened by the fact that Johnny reminds his mother so much of her dead husband.
Eventually, after years of taking a very hands-off approach to parenting, Johnny’s mother wakes up out of her funk only to find that her son has been an alcoholic for years as a way of combatting with the stress. He has some “goth” tendencies, is disinterested in school and hangs out with a rough crowd of “druggies”. The two struggle until one day, accidentally, drunken Johnny takes some ecstacy when he meant to take an aspirin and he winds up being sent to rehab where a fellow boarder introduces him to the music of Blondie. He becomes a hardcore Debbie Harry fan from this point on.
Johnny’s mother unloads him to his uncle right after his stint in rehab having given up on dealing with him. Johnny honestly tries to turn his life around by keeping sober, concentrating on school, making new friends, and finding a local record shop to foster his musical interests. Although he immediately starts to get some opposition from a local cliche of boys who call John “faggit” and “queer”, Johnny manages to fall in love with an outspoken classmate named Maria. The two start a sweet little relationship together and eventually Johnny even loses his virginity to Maria, even though Maria herself was not a virgin. Maria helps to guide Johnny into entering in a drag show so that he can parade around in a dress as his idol, Debbie Harry. It becomes a book about experiementing, finding yourself and becoming comfortable in your own skin, even if it ends up meaning you are a transvestite male who enjoys wearing women’s clothing but is not gay.
Maria and Johnny face a few challenges throughout the book but overall, the two actually have a decent relationship. This would appeal to teens because it is a nice quick read for maybe some older, reluctant readers. It touches a lot on sexuality and gender issues. It would appeal to a teen who is maybe experimenting with thoughts about cross dressing or if they think they might be sexually confused. It is also a book that talks about the importance of family and grieving over the death of a loved one. It talks about communication within a family and acceptance. It is a nice, tidy, fluffy happy ending which is a LITTLE unrealistic. I find it a little unlikely that Johnny would come to terms with his urges while having his first serious girlfriend AND have that girl not only accept him but encourage him. That seems incredibly mature for teens at that age, but then again, the characters both had hard childhoods so maybe they would be more mature than most. Also, I found it jarring that Johnny uses the word “fuck” in his inner dialog but not so much outloud with the public. Is that realistic? I don’t know. The group of teens that are always harassing him use foul language. I guess this means that the character of Johnny is just more sophisticated than his counterparts.
I felt the cover art was inneffective and boring. It was just the text of the title in block letters of blonde hair. I thought something like a picture of Debbie Harry drawn in Warhol-esqu artwork might be fun. I also would have liked the silhoette of a person dressed like Debbie Harry or just a person dressed up with wig and dress from the back without showing the face. Something that ambiguously depicted a person without giving away their true sex might have been more appropriate.
