Penned in a strong midlands lilt, Lees uses a hyper present tense narrative model to retell her upbringing, coming of age and discovery of her self in a truly unique take on the memoir / auto fiction genre. It’s almost entirely devoid of self reflection, something that seems to make memoir, memoir. Instead we are in the head of a younger Paris, experiencing life as they did, in real time. Beginning in Ucknall, a working class town, close in proximity to Nottingham but as Younger them puts it, it’s where the streets are paved with shit and the people are small of mind. As they explore, they find ‘the fallen divas’, a rag tag group of misfits amalgamating to some kind of misshapen family. We watch as they forge ways to make a living, survive a barrage of bigotry and transphobia and the almost constant grief of losing family, both literally and figuratively.

Lees’ writing is a portal to the 00s, Nokia flip phones, early morning fare dodging and podiums in nightclubs. Loud garage music and the era of Brit pop. She leans into the 5 senses and albeit forces the reader to experience the ecstasy and tragedy of a life led at full speed, with little aversion to risk.

It feels as though this may be the start of books by trans writers who get to tell stories that do not require them to humanise themselves to us cis folk; The unapologetic frankness that Lees chooses to tell the complex story of adolescence involving drug use, sex work and incarceration could (& may still be) used as leverage for the god damn awful right wing press to assign demeaning labels to a group of people,that they’ve likely never interacted with.

But you know what? That is not paris’ or anyone else in the trans and LGBTQI+ community’s, issue. I hesitate to use the word brave, it feels trite verging on patronising, so I guess what I mean is, I admire Paris’ choices in both a bold use of language and what feels like a purposeful lack of the ‘aha’ ‘I am different’ moment that heteronormative society seems to require of folks who dare to tread a different path. A brilliant, wholly unique take on the retelling of a life so far.

Thirteen-year-old Byron needs to get away and doesn't care how. Sick of being beaten up by lads for "talkin' like a poof" after school. Sick of dad - the weightlifting, womanising Gaz - and Mam, who pissed off to Turkey like Shirley Valentine. Sick of all the people in Hucknall who shuffle about like the living dead, going on about kitchens they're too skint to do up and marriages they're too scared to leave. It's a new millennium, Madonna's 'Music' is top of the charts and there's a whole world to explore - and Byron's happy to beg, steal and skank onto a rollercoaster ride of hedonism.

This is Possibly one of the freshest, original and surprising reads in a while. I got so wrapped in the story, I forgot it was a memoir and then it surprised me even more. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

I’ve been a fan of Paris for a long time and was excited to read this book. It’s a beautiful read (despite being written in a Hucknall vernacular ha) and, although some parts in the middle were less engaging, I loved it. The final 30% is incredible and the whole book is so imageable it could be adapted to the screen.

If you're looking for a funny and poignant account story of growth and change then this is the book for you.
Its written in broad Yorkshire dialect but after a chapter or two it's easy to understand. I loved the book and the fact that it's the true story of someone's life made it even more poignant. It's witty and raw and I would recommend it to anyone.
Thanks to Penguin, NetGalley and Paris for the ARC.

At the turn of the 21st century, 13-year-old Byron is desperate to get away from a hellish home life and the small-mindedness in Hucknall. So, Byron disappears into the queer underground of Nottingham and slots into a group of misfits who all just want to find their place in the world. Soon enough, Byron comes to a realisation that will change life forever. Written in a Nottinghamshire accent, What It Feels Like For A Girl is unmistakeable an authentic memoir of a trans person slowly coming to the realisation of who they truly are. There is some very disturbing content involving underage sex and sexual abuse that some readers should definitely be aware of. It’s very easy to slip into Paris’ shoes, which I really appreciated because her life is so different to my own and my eyes were able to be fully opened to the atrocities that she went through. Ultimately, it’s a story of pain, chosen family and getting to know yourself properly that ends on a note of hope.

Thanks to Particular Books for gifting me What It Feels Like For A Girl by Paris Lees. This is a memoir, but a very unconventional one: written with the immediacy and perspective of a novel, it reads very much like a first-person coming-of-age story, with all the atmosphere, detail and lack of reflection that you'd expect from someone writing this immediately as it happens to them. Paris was born in Hucknall in Nottinghamshire, to a family with often difficult dynamics, and her memoir is about her teenage years, reckless rebellions and close friendships, and her first moments of living as a girl. Normally I'm not a fan of books that are heavy on dialect but I actually quite liked it here - the events of the book just seems to work well when written in a dialect style, in a way that hasn't really happened for me since reading Trainspotting. (Normally, I HATE dialect so this is quite an admission!) The only thing I wasn't so keen on was how I often felt like I'd misinterpreted relationships or dynamics based on how Paris had originally written about them at the start of the book, which made me feel like I'd missed a lot of the subtext... But otherwise, I really enjoyed this - the topics are difficult, but they're delivered in a fresh, empathetic way that made me feel very immersed in Paris's world. 4 🌟

This book has blown me away! What It Feels Like for a Girl is a coming-of-age story unlike anything I have ever read. Both hilarious and devastating, Paris Lees' stylised memoir reads like fiction but tells of the chaotic joys and troubles she faced growing up in noughties Hucknall, a suburb of Nottingham. Casting Byron as her younger self (Paris prefers to use they/them pronouns for Byron), the reader follows the narrative in a present tense, Nottinghamshire dialect- which is so well done and makes the story feel so vivid and honest. Paris has spoken about how difficult it was to revisit her youth, which is while I feel so honoured that I got a chance to hear her story.

Teenage Byron is passionately resentful of Hucknall and its people, who "just shuffle about like the livin' dead". Bullied and abused on the streets and at home, Byron is desperate to escape the community that denies their identity, refusing to suppress who they are. So when Byron breaks into Nottingham nightlife, they let loose, finding solidarity in a dysfunctional group of friends, the Fallen Divas. The hedonism begins as a joyful release, but soon Byron spirals into a cycle of benders, finding themself in dangerous, harmful situations.

There are so many brillant things about this book, one of the most skilful things Paris does is to erase the sense of reflection- we are completely in Byron's head and present moment. Sometimes, their impressionable and naive teenage mind makes for quite difficult reading, as we see 14-year-old Byron getting paid for sex with much older men. Without the hindsight of Paris as she is now, Byron's misinterpretation of their own agency and control over these situations is heartbreaking.

But among the bleakness, there is so much joy to be found in this book, and so many laugh-out-loud moments for me, with a good dose of dark humour. Byron's relationship with their grandmother, 'Mammar Joe' or 'Old Mother 'ubbard' is another shining light in this book, the only truly unconditional love that Byron experiences. The sense of time and place also made this book for me- there's a strong noughties tinge, and the Nottingham landmarks meant even more to me as someone who lived in the city while at uni and has family in the area.

Striking, bold and engrossing, I knew from the first few pages I would love this book, and it definitely delivered! Byron's resilience and unflappable sense of self makes for a powerful account of trans identity, and Paris has told her story of escape from small-town ignorance and hardship so viscerally and fullheartedly.

Books written in a vernacular can have a love/hate opinion, and I loved this book for sure. I've always been interested in the work of Paris Lees, and so I had high expectations of this book, and it was even better than I hoped for. A gritty memoir, which grips you from the off. What a fabulous read..

The Nottinghamshire dialect in this book took me a while to “hear” as I read, but it was a great authorial choice to give a sense of the youthfulness of the narrator and immediacy to the narrative, which cracks along a good pace as Paris Lees tells the story of growing up in a small town and feeling like she doesn’t belong. Bullied at school and neglected at home, Paris finds her tribe in the clubs of Nottingham, funding her social life through some risky behaviour. The book reads like a novel, such is the power of the storytelling, and it is easy to be so carried along in the action that you forget these are the experiences of someone still at secondary school. Funny in places, heartbreaking in others, this book had me hooked from the beginning.

A really bold, punchy, funny and tender memoir that details Paris Lees in her younger days, her growing understanding of her gender and sexuality, and how she manages to skirt trouble, up until she first goes to university.

Paris Lees manages to make her memoir feel like a novel, to the extent that you occasionally snap back into remembering that it is real, and that the woman writing the story not only endured, but survived, everything in its pages.

The most noticeable thing about the book is something that hits you within the first few words- it is all written in accented dialect. In the hands of a less confident writer, it could come off hackneyed and gimmicky, and I was nervous when I first saw it, but Paris Lees uses it as a strength, it carrying a strange and endearing charm throughout the book.

The sections about her burgeoning sexuality and gender identity is powerfully done- she is almost casual at talking about sex work, realising she is a woman and finding herself, and it feels liberating and profound. It almost feels that, if she had written about it in a typical way (somewhat more sentimental or declaratory), it would not have fit. For me, the power of the voice in this book is what drives it to be such a thrilling and thoughtful read.

I received an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In ‘What It Feels Like for a Girl’ Paris Lees takes us through her teen years in a writing style that feels like she is talking to you and telling you her story. I’m not English so the language took a minute to get used to, but it wasn’t distracting at all and I found it drew me more into the writing.

This memoir was hilarious and heartbreaking all in one, and at times it was easy to forget this was even a memoir! It made me emotional to read how much she wanted to do something important with her life and knowing what she has done and is doing now. I could’ve happily read another hundreds pages plus of her time in Brighton and beyond.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a visceral insight into the difficulties that Byron faces since feeling different from all his friends from a young age. It is very easy to root for the protagonist, while simultaneously being horrified by the situations that he encounters from going cottaging to hedonistic nights out. It portrays both the absolute joys of him/her finding his/her tribe and the lows of being in the very depths. It was a very different genre of book that I would normally read, but I enjoyed it overall and would recommend it. #netgalley #whatitfeelslikeforagirl

I unfortunately couldn't finish this book. I really loved the description, and I'm a fan of Paris Lees' so I was excited about this but the language in the book was just too distracting. Maybe I'm not the right audience, as I'm not English, but unfortunately I found myself getting too distracted trying to decipher the words to actually get stuck into the plot and characters. I think when done right, writing in more colloquialisms and vernacular can really add to the story but I feel like this sadly just crossed the line from "adding depth" into "too much".

I really enjoyed this book. I found the slang irritation begin with, but after a few pages I got in to the swing of it, and if I am honest, it really added to it. The story is so raw, but full off passion. It also serves to remind us that we can all make mistakes but we can learn and grow from them. Furthermore, I highlights that damage and path we can force people on to, but not accepting that we are all different, we are all valid, and we all deserve to be our true, unapologetic, authentic selves.

Books written in vernacular tread a thin line, one that I rarely care to walk. But it's hard to imagine this memoir without its very specific language. The energy of the story is right there in the words, and although it took me a few chapters to overcome my resistance, on the whole I think it works really well.

It's a relatively short, punchy book, an odd mix of subtlety and brashness. Each chapter is titled with a song name or lyric. I love this conceit, probably because I knew all the songs so found it really evocative of a certain time and lifestyle.

I hesitate to praise a trans memoir for not really centring 'the trans stuff' but I did really enjoy how 'background' Lees' transness is throughout. There isn't really a big moment of realisation or revelation, no 'here's how I came by my name' or 'this is when I realised I was DIFFERENT' or descriptions of dysphoria. Instead Lees focuses on friendships, community, wild nights out, difficult family dynamics and the painful and confusing stumbling towards 'growing up' - you know, universal stuff. Urgh, I hate myself.

My thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC.

What It Feels Like For A Girl is a memoir about Lees' teenage years, growing up in Nottingham and trying to find an escape. Teenager Byron is fed up of living in Hucknall, fed up of parents who don't care, and fed up of nothing to do. When Byron meets a new group of friends, including the unforgettable Lady Die, a new life of dancing, drink, and drugs awaits, but things aren't always straightforward.

This is an immediate and bold memoir, written in the present tense, and with a sense of narrative, character, and linguistic creativity that feels more like fiction than a lot of memoirs do, but also means that it feels more honestly like looking back and telling stories too. There's a lot of early 2000s culture packed in, as well as a real sense of both Hucknall and Nottingham (and the amount of public transport you have to get if you don't live in the local city/big town). Being trans is crucial to the memoir, but there's also a lot about class and sexuality and bullying.

As someone who's heard of Lees from her journalism but didn't know much about her life, this is a fascinating and frank look at growing up, getting in trouble, and finding direction, written in a distinctive, conversational way. It was a good book to become immersed in, fairly short and sharp, and as a fan of Lord Byron the references to him were an added bonus!

Possibly one of the most fresh, original and surprising reads in a while.
I got so wrapped in the story, I forgot it was a memoir and then it surprised me even more.
When it started, it reminded me of This is England, with the gritty Nottingham backdrop. As I know Nottingham quite well, a lot of places were familiar to me, which created the picture for me nicely.
This has its own very unique language and after a while I got used to it. However, I feel like breaking down the language took away from the shocking story and it may feel more impactful told more directly (just a personal view.)
Lots to think about, and really focuses on hot topics within society currently.