Title: Birthday
By: Meredith Russo
By: Meredith Russo
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: May 21 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-12983-3
Pages: 336
Two kids, Morgan and Eric, are bonded for life after being born on the same day at the same time. We meet them once a year on their shared birthday as they grow and change: as Eric figures out who he is and how he fits into the world, and as Morgan makes the difficult choice to live as her true self. Over the years, they will drift apart, come together, fight, make up, and break up—and ultimately, realize how inextricably they are a part of each other.
MY REVIEW
This book was written beautifully. From the first page to the last, I was hooked. This is spot on when the cover says this is a love story 18 years in the making.
We open the story celebrating both Morgan and Eric’s 13th Birthday. They’re at a water park celebrating with their family and one another. They've been sharing their birthdays together since they were born in the hospital. They're best friends.
From the beginning we’re hooked with Morgan letting us know that he feels like he’s trapped in the wrong gender’s body. Afraid to come out to not only his father, but his best friend Eric, we read immediately that Morgan is hurting. He’s had so much happen to him at a young age and to have to go through figuring out who his true self is, is a lot for someone, especially at his age and feeling like he has no one he can talk to. They're from a small town. The town and the townsfolk in this story reminds me of the town from the movie, Varsity Blues. If you’ve watched the movie before, you’ll know what I’m talking about, Where football is life and if you’re lucky enough to get a scholarship to make it out of the town, you’re golden.
Eric can tell that his best friend is hurting. He can tell that something is wrong and Morgan hasn’t been himself for a while. He wants to be there for him because he truly loves Morgan.
What Morgan doesn't know is that although it may appear that Eric is living the perfect life, he has problems going on in his household as well. His parents are fighting, he's living in the shadow of one brother who's made it out of their small town playing football and another brother who couldn't handle their dad anymore, so he took off. With all of this going on, trying to live up to expectations and also trying to be there for Morgan, Eric is overwhelmed.
Both going through difficult times, but still wanting to be there for one another, they end up playing their "parts" in their small town with Eric being in a relationship, trying to be the perfect son for his dad and Morgan rejoining the football team again and pushing down his true self until it just becomes too much and one ends up in the hospital.
I absolutely loved how the book was written, each chapter being in both main character’s point of view, taking turns per chapter, celebrating another birthday. You can tell how much they truly care for one another and how much has changed between them throughout the years. One thing that hasn't is their love for one another.
This book gave me all the feels. Being a parent of a child that is part of the LGBTQ community, it broke my heart to read how much pain and hurt Morgan was going through, how alone he felt and how much he struggled to try to be something he wasn't. This book has already been recommended to my friends and family and my husband is currently reading it as I think everyone should. It will give you a young person's point of view when they feel like they aren't in the right body. How it's not a choice and how much pain and hurt they're going through until they can finally be their true self. Again, I loved every single page of this book and give it five stars, if you get a chance head to wherever you buy your books from and grab a copy of Birthday.
I'm so excited to be apart of the Birthday Book Tour hosted by Raincoast. I am one of two of the last stops for this tour, once you're done reading this review, please be sure to head over to Fab Books Reviews to check out their review and thoughts on Birthday. For more information on Meredith Russo, you can check her out on her website, Twitter and Instagram.
Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received Birthday at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.
يتم ذلك عن طريق مجموعة من موظفي الشركة القادرين على القيام بذلك ، بالإضافة إلى خبرة كبيرة في مختلف مجالات النقل بأعلى جودة ومهارة مختلفة عن أماكن أخرى.
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