The title of the book, She’s Not There, is the title of a song that Boylan sings. What do you think the title means in this case? Who is not there, and when?
What is revealed about Boylan in her friendship with Richard Russo?
As a teenager, Boylan believes that love will cure him of his feelings. In what ways is Boylan saved by love? In what ways do people usually expect to be saved by love? How often is it successful?
Discuss the concept of “normal” as it relates to Boylan’s narrative, and to your expectations.
On her website, Boylan remarks, “As I look back at the story of my own life, I occasionally feel that being born transgendered was the best thing that could have happened to me. While dealing with this condition made life difficult for me, as well as for my family, it’s also true that I have been given a rare gift in life, the gift of being able to see into the worlds of both men and women with clear eyes.” Do you feel that you know more about these worlds as a result of reading Boylan’s book?
Boylan says that her first awareness of being transgendered occurred when she was about three. What do you remember about your earliest sense of your identity? How often do you feel that what the world sees in you is at odds with what you know to be true?
After reading the book, did you identify with Boylan more or less than you had expected?
FURTHER READING:
Jan Morris, Conundrum
Chloe Rounsley and Mildred Brown, True Selves
Natalie Angier, Woman: An Intimate Geography
Cynthia Eller, Am I a Woman? A Skeptic’s Guide to Gender
Kate Bornstein, Gender Outlaw
Deirdre McCloskey, Crossings: A Memoir
Richard Russo, Empire Falls
Nicole Howey, Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods—My Mother’s,
My Father’s, and Mine
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN is co-chair of English at Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, where she has taught since 1988. As James Finney Boylan she authored three novels and a collection of short stories, including The Planets (1991) and Getting In (1997). Under a pseudonym she has also written a series of four popular young adult novels; she has also written two screenplays for New Line Cinema. Jenny has received a Pennsylvania State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Literature, as well as the Alex Award from the American Library Association in 1998. She was Colby’s Charles Walker Bassett Teaching Award recipient in 2000 and holds degrees from Wesleyan and Johns Hopkins, as well as an honorary MA from Colby.
She lives in rural Maine with her family.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Remind Me to Murder You Later (stories)
The Planets
The Constellations
Getting In
SHE’S NOT THERE.
Copyright © 2003 by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-
copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. For information,
address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Afterword, “Imagining Jenny,” © 2002 by Richard Russo
BROADWAY BOOKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal,
are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Photographs are courtesy of the author. Images are
courtesy of Colby College. Photograph copyright © 2002 by Bruce
Strong. Photograph courtesy of Colby College Communications;
photograph by Brian Speer.
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-41925-5
v3.0
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