From the bestselling author of She’s Not There comes another buoyant, unforgettable memoir—I’m Looking Through You is about growing up in a haunted house...and making peace with the ghosts that dwell in our hearts.
For Jennifer Boylan, creaking stairs, fleeting images in the mirror, and the remote whisper of human voices were everyday events in the Pennsylvania house in which she grew up in the 1970s. But these weren’t the only specters beneath the roof of the mansion known as the “Coffin House.” Jenny herself—born James—lived in a haunted body, and both her mysterious, diffident father and her wild, unpredictable sister would soon become ghosts to Jenny as well.
I’m Looking Through You is an engagingly candid investigation of what it means to be “haunted.” Looking back on the spirits who invaded her family home, Boylan launches a full investigation with the help of a group of earnest, if questionable, ghostbusters. Boylan also examines the ways we find connections between the people we once were and the people we become. With wit and eloquence, Boylan shows us how love, forgiveness, and humor help us find peace—with our ghosts, with our loved ones, and with the uncanny boundaries, real and imagined, between men and women.
A GOOD READSeptember 8, 2008 This book is very unique in the fact you expect it to be about a haunted house but actually the main subject is the struggle of growing up different. I got this book because I love haunted house stories but I have to admit I got more than I bargained for. The author did a good job bringing her awkwardness and pain to life especially when he was almost discovered with his sister's bridal dress on in the attic by his father! I don't believe in the gay issues but I felt very sorry for Jimmmy as a boy who was so confused and noone to turn to and I really believe considering the fact he did have sexual feelings for a couple of females and the desire to change that he could have if he had gotta the help he needed. All and all it was a very well told memoir and her personality really came thru in the story.
"Far more hearts are haunted than houses"August 26, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
At first glance I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir seems to be about growing up in a haunted house, but it's much more than that. Author Jennifer Finney Boylan uses the near-translucent spirits inhabiting her family home as a metaphor for her dissociated youth. She spent her first 40 years as James Boylan, the boy's and man's body a bad fit for her soul.
The Boylan family moved to the aptly named "Coffin House" on Philadelphia's Main Line, and at once young James began to observe ghostly shapes drifting through the rooms. Through the teen years and in later visits as a young adult, alienated by feelings that "James" was meant to be "Jenny," the author continued to experience the ghosts. In more recent years, after transgender surgery turned James into Jenny at last, she visited the house with a "ghostbusting" team and came to a better understanding of the strange presence and what it was foreshadowing to the boy, near-translucent himself.
This memoir follows the theme of author Boylan's earlier book She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, expanding on her life with a full cast of eccentric extended family members and friends. Boylan's humor has a dark cast; she deflects her serious moods with lightning-quick turnarounds, yet the reader never doubts her seriousness. The book is full of music and cultural references that at times are the only tethers holding Jenny/James in the real world.
Parent and partner, professor, friend, musician, daughter, sister -- some of Boylan's relationships have thrived and some suffered. Her books leave me believing that, as she states, she's "solid" at last. I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir is not your everyday memoir but it will make you think -- about ghosts, but especially about the human experience.
Linda Bulger, 2008
Take a look at this bookJuly 23, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A fascinating story woven with the backdrop of a transgender young man haunted both by his phsyical identity and the physical haunting of a house in main line Philadelphia. It is a very poignant, at times sad and then humorous book. I deeply admire the struggle of the author and the way in which she wrote this moving story. The call to be real and to "find ourselves" is one in which we all struggle to achieve on varying levels.
a delightful findJune 23, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I didn't know jack (or jill) about Jennifer Finney Boylan when I picked up this book. I was only interested because it was described as a "growing up in a haunted house" memoir, and I can't get enough of the paranormal.
Imagine my surprise when a few pages in I discover that Jenny was formerly Jimmy.
At first I was annoyed at what I perceived as falst advertising. But in no time I found myself captivated by Jenny's unique voice and perspective. She captures perfectly the goofiness of teenagers in the '70s, with all cultural references intact. The section on Jimmy's first job as a bank teller had me laughing out loud because it reminded me so much of my first job.
By the end of the book, I loved both Jimmy and Jenny, and the whole haunted angle was almost a moot point.
I'm looking forward to reading more by this talented writer.
Haunted by LifeMay 27, 2008 This book picked up steam after a chapter or two and never ceased to be less than enthralling. Boylan's story of growing up transgendered and in a haunted house is a tale that probably no one else can tell, and she does a remarkable job. Even better than She's Not There, in I'm Looking Through You Boylan recounts a rich childhood and adolescence filled with love, doubt, pain, joy, and how both the living and the dead have an impact on our lives. A surprisingly addictive read, and highly recommended.
