“McBee enlarges the study [of masculinity] from a series of vignettes into a full, poetic narrative … The act of writing could amount to a kind of revenge. But empathy, instead, is McBee’s objective, the most important part of becoming real in one’s own eyes. ‘Being human,’ he concludes, ‘means being at the mercy of others.’ That’s a part of aspiration, too. We are born human; with hard work, we achieve humanity.”
“McBee’s answer to the initial question of 'What makes a man?' is more generous, more inspiring, and more creative than the usual gender binaries allow. Full of bravery and clear, far-sighted compassion and devoid of sentiment, victimization, and cliché, McBee’s meditations bring him a hard-won sense of self—one that is bound to inspire any reader who has struggled with internal dissonance.”
—Publisher's Weekly, starred review
“[A] unique, powerful rite-of-passage memoir … This is quite a story, masterfully rendered.”
—Kirkus reviews, starred review
“Man Alive is a sweet, tender hurt of a memoir. Thomas Page McBee deftly recounts what has shaped him into the man he has become and how—from childhood trauma to a mugging in Oakland where he learned of his body’s ability to save itself. This is a memoir about forgiveness and self-discovery, but mostly it’s about love, so much love. McBee takes us in his capable hands and shows us what it takes to become a man who is gloriously, gloriously alive.”
—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist
“[A] lyrical, affecting memoir.”
—Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
“Reading Man Alive is like sitting with someone uncurling his hands, then holding them out to you, open, so that you can behold all the hard-won strength, insight, agility, and love to be found there. ‘Whoever’s child I am, my body belongs to me,’ McBee writes, and his book is an elegant, generous transcription of the journey toward this incandescent, non-aggrandized, life-sustaining form of self-possession—the kind that emanates from dispossession, rather than running from it.”
—Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts
“McBee’s beautifully written story is engrossing and brave, and rings with triumph.”
—Isaac Fitzgerald, BuzzFeed
"Man Alive stands as a vitally important book. McBee’s story harnesses the power of self-inquiry, of generosity, of a transformation powerful enough to address even the fallout from child abuse.”
—Greg Glazner, Los Angeles Review of Books
“Thomas Page McBee’s Man Alive hurtled through my life. I read it in a matter of hours. It’s a confession, it’s a poem, it’s a time warp, it’s a brilliant work of art. I bow down to McBee—his humility, his sense of humor, his insightfulness, his structural deftness, his ability to put into words what is often said but rarely, with such visceral clarity and beauty, communicated.”
—Heidi Julavits, author of The Vanishers
“Flashing from the past to the present, McBee’s prose is crisp and attentive to the role pain plays in molding our identities. ‘Whoever’s child I am, my body belongs to me,’ he proclaims, a crystalline reminder that our most fearsome and earthshaking confrontations are the ones we have with ourselves.”
—Emily Drabinski, Out magazine
“Following a twisty course marked by multiple switchbacks, Man Alive, picks its path through a life pocked by abuse, yearning, violence, danger and desire. The book refuses to cleave to the conventions of other narratives of transition and makes uncertainty the hallmark not only of the past but of the present and the future as well. Exquisitely written and bristling with emotion, this important book reminds us of how much vulnerability and violence inheres to any identity. A real achievement of form and narrative.”
—Jack Halberstam, author of The Queer Art of Failure
"Man Alive isn’t just a story about a transgender man. It’s a story about self-discovery. It’s a story about patience, forgiveness, kindness and bravery. It’s a story told so beautifully and clearly that you can’t help but see your own journey in these pages. With this book, Thomas Page McBee has done exactly what we should all strive for: to tell our stories in ways that humanize rather than sensationalize.”
—Lauren Morelli, showrunner, Tales of the City; producer and writer, Orange is the New Black
