☛ Cette critique est aussi disponible en français [➦].
Translated by Gabrielle Baillargeon-Michaud.
The main character of the novel For Today I Am a Boy, the only child in the Huang family assigned male at birth, grows up in Fort Michel, a small Ontario town. Through first-person recollections, we follow their childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in Montreal, spanning from the 1980s to the 2000s, exploring their connections to their parents, playmates, beloved sisters, and objects of desire.
For Today I Am a Boy by Kim Fu is titled after a song by Anohni and the Johnsons, a New York-based psychedelic folk pop band, whose first verse is quoted at the beginning of the book. The song acts as a thematic key, addressing the fluidity of identity and the process of gender affirmation. Kim Fu pays tribute to the band for daring to explore these topics. The lead singer, who later publicly revealed her trans identity and adopted the name Anohni, honours Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender African-American woman who was a forefront figure in the LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the United States. Therefore, Fu sets her novel within a lineage of free, creative, and powerful women who dare to be themselves1.
Self-image and identity—both sexual and cultural—guide the protagonist’s quest, which he embarks on tentatively. These themes are initially shaped by his relationships with his sisters—graceful Adele, ambitious Helen, and youthful Bonnie—as well as his authoritarian father and, to a lesser extent, his subdued mother. As the story unfolds, their seemingly uniform portraits are clouded as their flaws and internal struggles are revealed. The family’s relational and communicational dynamics can be interpreted through the myth of the “model minority2,” depending on whether the characters conform to, detach from, resist, or yield to this stereotype. All the Huang children leave their small town seeking to thrive elsewhere, whether in Montreal, Los Angeles, or Berlin. Yet, distancing oneself does not suffice to escape the life patterns established: both Montreal and Fort Michel exhibit the same oppressive dynamics. Content warnings include racist remarks, homophobic violence, depression, suicide attempts, sexual racism, transphobic assaults, whorephobia, and sexual assault. How does one build one’s identity amidst and beyond adversity? Without perpetuating or condemning stigmas, the author opts for an openness of interpretation, focusing on evoking the main character’s feelings, even if it means causing discomfort.
Kim Fu masterfully handles delicate details, adept at juxtaposing events and allowing meaning to emerge from them. Her narrative does not shy away from the harshness of its content. The French adaptation by Jeannot Clair, a literary translator with a special interest in queer narratives, is seamless. He adapts the dialogues into colloquial Québécois and effectively captures Fu’s style. Born in 1987 in Vancouver, Kim Fu now resides in Seattle and has since published a poetry collection, How Festive the Ambulance: Poems (2016), and a second novel, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore (2018). For Today I Am a Boy, her debut novel, was awarded the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction.
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1 The novel is not unanimously acclaimed in trans communities. I recommend reading Casey Plett's review of The Walrus, here.
2 The myth of the model minority presents Asian immigrants as "discreet", ticking "all the integration boxes and [excelling] in all areas: income, education, employment", as presented in episode 4 of the podcast Kiffe ta race by Grace Ly and Rokhaya Diallo, listen here (in French). The issue is also addressed by Rebecca Makonnen on On dira ce qu'on voudra, listen here (in French).
Sources
Diallo, R. et Ly, G. (2019). Asiatiques, minorité modèle [Baladodiffusion]. Dans Bresson, Q. (réalisateur), Kiffe ta race. [Paris] : Binge Audio. https://www.binge.audio/podcast/kiffetarace/asiatiques-minorite-modele
Makonnen, R. (animatrice) (2021, 4 mai). Conversation sur l'héritage culturel asiatique [Segment radio]. Dans Harbaoui, S. (réalisatrice), On dira ce qu’on voudra. Montréal : Radio-Canada. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/on-dira-ce-qu-on-voudra/episodes/530343/rattrapage-du-mardi-4-mai-2021
Reference
Author : Kim Fu
Title : For today I am a boy
Date of parution : February 17th, 2015
Publishing house : HarperCollinsThis book is available in bookstores for $18.99 and in libraries.