birthday book

i started reading Birthday by Meredith Russo. i'm having a really hard time reading it, though, a lot of the trans stuff is just... too close to home, i guess. i had the same problem when reading If I Was Your Girl. i relate too much to things i don't want to be reminded of, and to be honest i just really don't like stories set in villages in the US.

like, they're both very good, i'm really glad they exist and i support Meredith Russo, but maybe they're not for me. too painful. that said, i am going to finish Birthday and i got surprisingly far already, it felt so hard to read that i though i'd read like ten pages but i'm on page 94! so i guess it's also very readable?