The Third Person
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A boldly drawn, unforgettable memoir about trauma and the barriers to gender affirming health care
In the winter of 2004, a shy woman named Emma sits in Toby’s office. She wants to share this wonderful new book she’s reading, but Toby, her therapist, is concerned with other things. Emma is transgender, and has sought out Toby for approval for hormone replacement therapy. Emma has shown up at the therapy sessions as an outgoing, confident young woman named Katina, and a depressed, submissive workaholic named Ed. She has little or no memory of her actions when presenting as these other two people. And then Toby asks about her childhood . . .
As the story unfolds, we discover clues to Emma’s troubled past and how and why these other two people may have come into existence. As Toby juggles treating three separate people, each with their own unique personalities and memories, he begins to wonder if Emma is merely acting out to get attention, or if she actually has Dissociative Identity Disorder. Is she just a troubled woman in need of help? And is “the third person” in her brain protecting her, or derailing her chances of ever finding peace?
The Third Person is a riveting memoir from newcomer Emma Grove. Drawn in thick, emotive lines, with the refined style of a comics vet, Grove has created a singular, gripping depiction of the intersection of identities and trauma. The Third Person is a testament to the importance of having the space to heal and live authentically.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grove's debut memoir, a breezy affair even at close to 900 pages, dives into tangled questions of identity with clear-eyed, clean-lined assurance. Emma, a trans woman, visits a therapist to get approval to begin physically transitioning after a lifetime in the closet. During therapy, however, she presents as three different people—shy bookworm and writer Emma; outgoing, aggressive party girl Katina; and exhausted workaholic Ed—with shifting outfits and wigs for each persona. The therapist, Toby, isn't sure if Emma has dissociative disorder, a very rare condition he's never encountered in practice, or if she's putting him on. Emma's personalities, meanwhile, seem unaware that there's anything unusual about their situation and remain focused on qualifying for hormones. "I do have separate parts of myself," Emma rationalizes, "but doesn't everybody?" As therapist and patient talk past each other, dancing around truths no one wants to face, their sessions become dangerously charged. Grove's simple but marvelously elastic, emotive art is reminiscent of Jules Feiffer. Though there are glimpses of Emma's traumatic past and daily struggles at work and home, the bulk of the narrative consists of therapy sessions. Yet the characters are drawn with so much personality that it doesn't grow visually dull. With quiet ease, Grove draws readers into Emma's world and makes them feel the complexities and contradictions of her experience. Grove proves an impressive new voice in comics.
