It Gets Better…Except When It Gets Worse: And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me

Actor, trans rights activist, and YA author Maines (Bad Dream) presents a compelling coming-of-age memoir that covers everything from trans legislation to “The Little Mermaid.” Listeners may be familiar with Maines’s story owing to Amy Ellis Nutt’s 2015 book Becoming Nicole, which describes Maines’s childhood and the landmark Maine Supreme Judicial Court case that allowed her and other transgender people to use bathrooms consistent with their gender. Now, Maines presents her personal experiences in her own words. In this enlightening narrative, she recounts challenges such as code-switching, gender affirmation, the pressures of Hollywood, and simply surviving as a human being. Though she has already accomplished so much, Maines recognizes that life and its lessons have only just begun. Narrating her own story, she fills each part with a humorous, heartfelt air that makes her memoir relatable and poignant. From the tears in her voice as she talks about her late grandmother to her slapstick use of comedy as a coping mechanism, her tone is conversational and engaging.