I have purchased and read this story about a teenage transsexual who begins the novel as Clark and ends as Clarissa, faking documents to undergo SRS at a clinic in Bangkok at the age of 16. The drama pivots on the breakdown of the relationship developing between Clarissa and the computer security expert whose children she babysits, and who both indulges her dressing up in his wife’s clothes, while teaching her about computing systems and how to hack into them. When the wife discovers women’s clothes that don’t belong to her in her closet, and walks out on her husband, Clarissa discovers the ‘truth’ about Tony and plots her revenge, using money stolen from his bank account to fund her escapade in Thailand. Ultimately, Tony is sent to prison, while Clarissa returns from Thailand to begin a new life.
The book is written in a bland anonymous English with imagery and dialogue taken from films and tv; Tony even has a computer he calls
Ugly Betty. The book has been printed by the author and can be purchased on Amazon (see the link below), but has not found a publisher, which also means the text was not proof-read by a professional editor. It is a frustrating book to read because it is replete with errors which interrupt the reader and draw attention to the generally sloppy presentation of the text. Bangkok is described as the ‘capitol’ of Thailand, Narita International Airport in Japan is called Naruto. The chain of 7/11 shops in Thailand are described as ‘obsequious’ (p273) when perhaps they might be ubiquitous or just, well, all over the place. In some cases, words go missing, such as the night Clarissa runs away without taking a coat because of the cold so that ‘She’d just have to deal’ (p165) [with it?]. We are told that the main male character, Tony, drinks whiskey when he is alone and in a foul mood –which he is on p175, yet he is drinking Southern Comfort, although on the next page he takes ‘another slug of whiskey’. He invites Clarissa to a restaurant which initially is called Robins, before it becomes Robin’s a few sentences later (p93). These and many other small but noticeable errors appear all though the book and don’t encourage the reader to warm to the characters or the plot.
And there are some real problems with the story. The school bully is a Jock and in case you don’t get it, his name is John Mort –not Fritz Tod or Carlo Muerta, or even John De’ath- yet most Jocks don’t need to bully as they are confident, good looking guys with girlfriends, and excel at sports, whereas bullies have to compensate for something they lack often by extorting money or favours from their victims. In this novel it is a feeble device to emphasise how difficult life is for a transsexual teenager.
Early on in the book Tony’s wife finds a pair of panties in the laundry which do not belong to her or her 4-year old girls. My first reaction was to assume that Tony might be cross-dressing, but it still puzzled me when, later that morning his wife meets Clarissa and her mother in the supermarket and even though her 4-year old twins ask her ‘is that a boy or a girl?’ she invites Clark/Clarissa to babysit. I don’t know how many obviously effeminate teenage boys babysit 4-year old girls in rural Iowa, I am inclined to think not many. Because I also thought his wife was afraid that Tony might be cross-dressing it seemed incredible this would happen. Also, even though Tony realises he knows Clark as ‘Claire’ from transgender forums on the web, there is no explanation for his interest in a trangender forum, and no further suggestion he cross-dresses, rather that he likes to exploit and manipulate teenagers –legally children- under the age of 18. The talkative 4-year old girls dress Clarissa up in women’s clothes and make-up, their own Barbie doll, but don’t tell their mother? I don’t think the author dealt well with these confusions in the plot.
In another scene, Clarissa is taken to a gay bar in Des Moines where she meets a post-op transsexual and asks ‘You’re trans?’ to which the woman replies ‘Yes, and that’s the best compliment you could have given me’ (p82). –Post-op in a gay club? Likes being called a trans? Discuss!!
We are asked to believe that a frustrated 16-year old who has not undergone any hormone therapy, who does not have even the suggestion of breasts, will be happily accepted for SRS in Bangkok by an experienced surgeon for whom faked documents tell him something he can’t see when examining his patient. The tone of the book does not attach any moral criticism to this reckless teenager who breaks numerous laws, steals people’s belongings and basically acts like her own needs are all that matters, and the only thing that matters, the solution to
ALL of Clarissa’s problems is her gender status. Anyone who thinks transsexuals are selfish will not be disabused of this idea in this book. There are many other things wrong with this novel. I don’t want to be negative about it, but it didn’t tell me anything about the experience of being a teenage transsexual that I was not already aware of, and the transformation of Tony from being an affectionate man who offers Clarissa emotional and material support, who teaches her more about computing than she would ever learn in school, into a serial abuser of children doesn’t work, and reads like an exercise in political correctness; this doesn’t make for good literature.
Run, Clarissa, Run: Rachel Eliason: 9780988573017: Amazon.com: Books
