I put this in my "short stories" category, but really it's a collection of vignettes. I loved the style, which was unique and not something I ever would have considered could become a book. There are so many memorable and quotable passages. If you're at all interested in the craft of writing, gender identity, rural Canada, or 1980s queer culture, this book is a must-have for your shelf. Coyote has amazing way of creating the time and place without being overly verbose. My only critique is that,

Rebent Sinner is Ivan Coyote's memoir/autobiography told through magnificent short stories, essays, and letters. Coyote's skilled story telling made this book more enjoyable than most memoirs and the like that I have read. I cannot think of one that was formatted in the creative and interesting way that this one was, alternating stories that ranged from one sentence to many pages.Coyote invoked a wide range of emotions in me with this book. There were times I would laugh out loud, times I would

Wow! Wow! Wow! Read this book!

No one quips or tells a story like Ivan Coyote. I smiled a lot, shed some tears and laughed out loud a few times. Ivan never disappoints.

This one felt like an intimate letter or the inside of a journal, with beautiful short reflective vignettes. Coyote’s writing is breathtaking, and singularly breaks down what it means to walk through the world in a body that defies societal expectations. What I liked most about this work was how they blurred the lines between the political and the personal, showing the ways in which even that dichotomy is collapsed in the embodied reality of so many, at once invisible and hypervisible. But this

Nominee for the OLA Evergreen Award Maybe even 4.5 stars.Rebent Sinner is the third book I've read for the Evergreen Award this year and the third memoir written by a member of a marginalized group. I was a little bit taken aback when I started Rebent Sinner, both I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder: A Memoir and The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power have a lot of references in their essays and are presented in a vaguely chronological order. Rebe

I elect not to rate this one, as it was a DNF for me.Perhaps this isn't the best entry point into Ivan Coyote's work. Or perhaps Ivan Coyote's work is not for me.My expectation was that this would be a memoir with commentary on the trans experience and the issues trans people face. And it was? But also wasn't. Instead it was a series of nonlinear slices of life told in incredibly short snippets. Often in those snippets Coyote relates an uncomfortable experience resulting in discrimination becaus...

I’ve been saving this book for months since it came out- to have something to look forward to reading in the future. Got bad enough today that I just picked it up and ripped through over the evening. No bookmark needed. Something analogous to what I was sad about was mentioned early in the book so there were tears but I did laugh later on in the book. The book kept me alive for a few hours so I think that’s the best recommendation I can give.

It's all well and good to say what you think. But the catch here is that this, by definition, requires that you think. p87Ivan Coyote is everybodys favourite transsexual. Affable, witty, most of all non-threatening to those of all persuasions, they have achieved significant success as a role model for those unsure of how to escape the gender mold. In reinventing themself, Coyote holds out the possibility for everyone.Our job is to see this as an honour, not a chore. That will make us so much bet...

Ivan Coyote continues to be a master storyteller. Even though this book was a little short, I found that I enjoyed the format since the stories were poignant snapshots of absurd, heartbreaking, and infuriating moments in Ivan's daily life. This book had me alternating between laughter and tears and occasionally had me doing both at the same time.

4.5 stars. What a treat and privilege to get a new Ivan Coyote book! I've been reading their work for a decade and it always makes me feel strengthened and empowered and full of community. It's a collection of personal essays, anecdotes, and other unclassifiable memoir-ish stuff, with an often more elegiac tone than I've seen in their writing before. Ivan writes about their work talking to schools about anti-bullying, being in the world as a queer non-binary person (esp. being used as a spokespe...

I don't hug a lot of books. But, I hugged this one. Just what I needed. Confirmed: Ivan Coyote is my favorite living author.

queer! good!

In Rebent Sinner, Ivan Coyote describes themselves as a a heart-storyteller, like their friend Richard Wagamese. These are their stories. Short, profound, funny, touching, thought-provoking essays. You will be moved. “Being trans is a part of me, and of course it informs how I view my place in the world, and I’m well aware of the fact that it is THE thing about me for some people, but for me it’s just one of the things that I am. I’m a Yukoner.  I’m am a fan of Scandinavian crime novels. I can o...

A thoughtful, generous and gentle book of vignettes about the fatigue of performing trauma as a minority in front of a majority, forgetting, unbecoming and unlearning corrosive societal conditioning, how to forge a path ahead as a writer and a queer person when there are no role models, and the harm wrought by the catchall phrase “diversity”. Coyote is a wonder and I'm so glad to have discovered them in my first read of 2020.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Bespeak Audio Editors for the opportunity to listen to an audiobook of this, it was a real pleasure.This is actually the first of Ivan Coyote's work that I've read, which I now realise means I've been missing out on so much! They write so well, so thoughtfully, methodically and emotionally. I know the last two might seem to cancel each other out but they truly don't. Coyote writes from the heart but I also felt a real sense of understanding as a trans all...

This is the first Ivan Coyote book that I haven't liked. Most of the stories didn't feel like stories - many were two-sentence observations, some seemingly random. Also, Ivan seems tired and angry, as opposed to their usual (previous) warm, hopeful, and funny tone. This is totally justifiable, and maybe more honest than the earlier books, but I'm sorry to say it isn't as enjoyable to read.

I had never heard of Ivan before this but I'm so glad I do know now! Their writing is really beautiful and really balances the hard-hitting with the humor. This style of book with sort of memoir vignettes and anecdotes was really fun and works well with their writing style. Some parts are the sort of comedic slice of life that I feel would fit very well with a standup show. But while there is a lot of humor, Ivan writes with so much care about everything they've been through— now that they are o...

A very three-star read for me.It maybe wasn't the introduction to Ivan Coyote that it should've been. This felt sort of like reading through their notes folder, which could have been fun had I already formed a connection to Coyote. There's a specific chapter in this that felt connected in a way that the rest of the book didn't. Had the rest of the novel felt like the 'To and From' portion of it, I probably would've loved the entire thing. Unfortunately, as it is, the book felt sort of hollow. It...

This book was so lovely. It's a series of short vignettes about Coyote's life, touring, memories and the people they encounter. They tell stories about human interactions and also about the painful things they encounter as a trans person. There's a lot of humour in the book as well.I found the book both uplifting, and it made me miss small interactions with lovely people.