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Not an enjoyable read. Especially as a queer reader.

The book is mostly exhausting and frustrating to read because of how relentlessly sexist the main character is. She thinks women suck and boys rule because media shows men in a variety of roles while women are helpless princesses. By the end of the book we look at the bigger picture to see how society controls the narrative on what a woman should and shouldn't be. It's just such a painful read to get to that point because by then it doesn't feel worth it or believable that Liz decides it's ok to be a girl.

The book's voice and tone is so needlessly aggressive. The early pages start out with Liz going into a time machine to scold a feminine girl for calling herself "tomboy" because that's HER identity and you shouldn't CO-OPT it (all the while ironically co-opting trans experiences). This is dumb because 1) people get to decide what to call themselves, 2) who is Liz to judge and police what someone should be called based on her standard of what being tomboy means to her?
Sometimes there are lines that just don't sit right with me. The "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" line perpetuates the idea that verbal abuse doesn't count as bullying because there are no physical scars.
Also? This book is often brought up in the all-ages graphic novel crowd, yet explicit swears, discussions of sex, and depiction of smoking are prominent. The logic and discussion of gender and sexuality feels like it's gradeschool level for nonqueer readers (man+woman= LOVE! gender expression=gender!) yet the heavy handed language makes this an adult book. There could be an argument that this book is YA and for teens, but even then the misleading and simplistic discussion of gender and sexuality makes me hesitant to recommend this as a means for teens to learn about self expression.

It's frustrating seeing books that prioritize the voices of cis straight, women on stories of gender and sexuality over queer people. This book co-opts so much trans language but ultimately shoves it all under the rug to assure the reader that the main is still a cis girl in the end.
When I read it a part of me thought the Liz might actually be trans? Transness is a spectrum, and I feel Liz might be somewhere in the masc-leaning identities. Especially when Liz screams at dresses, is dysphoric in wearing feminine clothes, is uncomfortable at the thought of feminine puberty, loves passing as a boy (when Liz was a kid), and outright proclaims and prays that she could be a boy when she's older...it's so similar to the trans experience and yet trans identities are never brought up as an option in the story. Lesbians and gays are brought up, but only as insults and to assure the reader that Liz isn't one of them.

But I get it- with the way sexism narrowly defines what makes an "acceptable" woman, it's no surprise that many cis women struggle with dysphoria and internalized misogyny. I just think that the writing here doesn't have the self awareness to make that distinction clear without invalidating trans experiences.

Content Warning also for queer slurs: She-He, D*kes, and various other terms are used as insults throughout the book. Again, not a very queer-friendly read.

My biggest concerns with Liz relying SO heavily on trans language but still ultimately proclaiming that she's a cis tomboy girl are:
a) how parents could point this book to their trans kids and assure them that their kids aren't trans.
b) trans kids could read this book and reconsider their transness as "just tomboy".
A lot of Liz's experiences were extremely relateable to me as an afab trans demiboy, but I feel like this book could also potentially undermine my experiences with the cis platitude of "trans men are just sexist women".
It's not that cis women can't experience these things, but the book doesn't offer the trans identity as an option to give nuance to the discussion. Liz saying she was "born a tomboy" and that it's "a lifestyle" feels like a third finger to trans men. Also "you can be a girl and wear boys clothes. A lot easier than a boy can wear girls clothes." is such an obnoxious statement that perpetuates the idea that trans men have it easier compared to trans women. This book also does very little to discuss femininity in men (apart from her brother having long hair, who Liz just dismisses as a style that comes into fashion in the future).

Overall, the book is just riddled with too much "holier than thou" attitudes and is dismissive of discussing anything about queerness past a few sentences. The art has a fun doodly quality, but the handwriting is often hard to read.