Sasha Masha

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Description

Transgender author Agnes Borinsky deftly explores gender identity and queer romance in this heart-wrenching debut novel. Alex feels like he is in the wrong body. His skin feels strange against his bones. And then comes Tracy, who thinks he's adorably awkward, who wants to kiss him, who makes him feel like a Real Boy. But it is not quite enough. Something is missing. As Alex grapples with his identity, he finds himself trying on dresses and swiping on lipstick in the quiet of his bedroom. He meets Andre, a gay boy who is beautiful and unafraid to be who he is. Slowly, Alex begins to realize: maybe his name isn't Alex at all. Maybe it's Sasha Masha.

Reviews

A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Lambda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQ Book
A Bitch Media Feminist Read of the Month
A Book Riot Favorite Upcoming Book of the Month

Written in the first-person, this coming-of-age story offers an intimate view of self-discovery. Queer community and history play a refreshing significance in Sasha Masha's personal revelations. . . . a sensitive and vulnerable story of self-growth. --Kirkus Reviews

Borinsky does an excellent job of taking the reader inside Sasha Masha's troubled mind as he agonizes over his identity. The result is a memorably offbeat coming-of age-novel that is sure to resonate with readers. --Booklist

In straightforward first-person prose, debut novelist Borinsky captures the ups and downs of teenage soul-searching, struggling to define one's gender, and coming out as trans . . . Sasha Masha is a well-crafted, memorable protagonist whose voice rings true and whose experiences will resonate as he learns to accept that his journey, like any questioning person's, is an ongoing one. --Publishers Weekly

The book refreshingly ends without Alex defining his gender, pronouns, or path forward. However, the reader leaves knowing that Alex is surer in himself and ready to embark on a journey to a better, truer future. This #ownvoices novel is a reminder that "transitions" don't always have a definite endpoint and an uncertain identity is not an invalid one. --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Sasha Masha is a quiet, yet insightful novel, chronicling the confusing stages of understanding and exploring your gender identity and shows that gender is a spectrum and that it's okay to not know where you land on it just yet. That it's okay to experiment and find what feels right for you and that there's no rush to put a label on it. --The Nerd Daily

Author Bio

Agnes Borinsky is a playwright and performer, originally from Baltimore and currently living in Los Angeles. Her plays have been produced and developed by Playwrights Horizons, Clubbed Thumb, Target Margin, Page 73, Ensemble Studio Theatre, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Masrah Ensemble in Beirut, Upstream Theater in St. Louis, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and her writing has appeared in n+1, The Brooklyn Rail, Slate, and HowlRound. A 2014-2015 LMCC Workspace resident, Agnes was a member of Youngblood from 2010 to 2016. She has otherwise performed and developed work in basements, backyards, bars, circus tents, and theaters. Sasha Masha is her debut novel.