I have been a fan of Against Me! since about 2008 when I was little sixteen year old discovering punk music. (Evelyn was even my top name for my daughter but my husband was not on board, unfortunately!) I have followed the band's music, I remember Laura Jane Grace's Rolling Stone article announcing her plan to transition and live life as a woman and feeling utter delight watching (on YouTube) a video of her singing The Ocean for the first time as Laura in 2012.

I finally have tickets to see her play for the first time at the end of this month so I knew I had to read her book. I opted to listen to the audiobook, read by Laura herself. As a fan who already knew a surface level amount, this book was just wonderful. 

Taken from journal entries that Laura kept throughout her life, we hear about her childhood travelling around as an army kid, her parents divorce and when her thoughts of gender dysphoria begun. It feels as though there are two main focuses of the book that run parallel.

The first being Laura discovering punk music, her run ins with the police as a then teenage boy, realising an anarchist philosophy, which kickstarted the band Against Me! and the trials and tribulations when it came to touring, record labels, changes in band members, making money and being seen as sellouts in the punk scene. All the while, Laura is fighting these feelings of dysphoria, calling times when she would dress in women's clothes as "binges" and eventually coming to terms with who she is, sharing this with her family and bandmates when she is still trying to understand it herself.

It is a very open and honest memoir and very blunt in some ways. Laura does not shy away from sharing her honest opinions and thoughts but at the same time is very reflective of herself and her behaviours. As a fan, it was a really good insight into what was really going on behind the scenes.