As someone who was abused at the same age as the author claims to also have been abused, I find it highly unbelievable that he could describe these events (which I’m not sure even constitute abuse) with such detail. It's unsettling that he places so much emphasis on materialistic things being for boys and girls, which he says other people put onto him but again these seem innocuous things that I can't imagine anybody else having umbrage with. This extraordinary childhood memoir is not only an important, thought-provoking and exhilarating read, it gives hope and community for all those who have ever felt ‘other’, and proves how vital it is to provide children with the safe space to be themselves. My reason for rating this book four out of five stars is simply that I was unable to envision the scenes and characters. The dialogue doesn’t fit the supposed age of the narrator and all in all I just came out of this book feeling a bit strange.

I'm not the fastest or best reader but I managed it in about 3 hours because its written in such a way that its easy to read so don't be put off if you struggle with reading! It skips from one thing to another and back to this and then over to that and there’s no flow whatsoever. Because growing up in conservative 1980s Dublin, where there was little tolerance for children who were ‘different’, Jonathan Joly was, indeed, a different sort of child: creative, expressive, and – on the inside – a girl. It is certainly thought provoking but makes you question whether it is entirely healthy for someone with such a large platform to be conveying such messages. I did find it jarring with the switching between Jonathan and his inner friends, because I wasn't always sure who was speaking in that particular moment.My biggest issue with the book, apart from the fact it is poorly written, is that I don't know what the point of it is?

Having said that however, I feel my review needs to reflect that this book is said to be childhood memoir, and I feel it reads very much as a fictional novel. However, as this is supposed to be an account of Joly’s childhood, I find it so bizarre that he can retell his entire life from the age of 3 with such precision. I am aware that the author of this book will attempt to frame this review as 'hate' or 'gaslighting', rather than just an honest review that I have written after reading this book. I would’ve been interested to hear more about what happened after the airport situation, even as maybe one extra chapter.

Lets not forget the painful descriptions of everything that happens, for example at the beginning of the book Jonathan describes the breakfast, he, Anna and the kids had at Costa; this information is completely unnecessary and would of been sorted if edited properly. And then it happened, a familiar sensation that Jonathan hadn’t had for decades: an out-of-body experience that transported him to another place, the safe place he used to escape to in his mind when he was a boy.

The author describes Domdie, his make-believe world where he goes to escape reality (and worryingly seems to encourage impressionable followers on his online platforms to do the same. He and his spouse, Anna Saccone, publicise selected aspects of their lives on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The edition I read had a highly dramatic first chapter which the author just seems to 'grow out of' rather than engaging with any bigger questions about identity.The book maybe has hints of the truth but a lot of it doesn’t add up with stories or events retold on the vlogs and videos. He says that he was abused (which I cannot say if this is true or untrue) but then exposes and exploits his children online. I don’t understand or believe some of the stories either as they are so vivid,you could understand maybe 1 or 2 memories of this time being so vivid but his whole book is really a play by play of a time and situation.