A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She is Today

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Title: A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She is Today
Author: Kate Bornstein
Publisher: Beacon Press
Year: 2012
280 pages

An enjoyable though at times heartbreaking memoir, recounting Borenstein's intertwined journeys in gender, religion, and self-knowledge. It's interesting to speculate about the course of her life if she hadn't been booted out of Scientology, where she seemed pretty happy and productive.

The latter section where she addresses her daughter directly didn't work as well for me. It may still be too close to Bornstein's heart to receive the same slightly distanced, slightly ironic treatment that gave the rest of the book its compelling tone.