This review was originally posted at More Than Just Magic 
 I'm just going to call it now. This is one of my favourite books this year. It's like Middlesex meets The Casual Vacancy - full of touching prose, well crafted characters and an extremely compelling story. 
 Golden Boy is the story of an intersex teen named Max. Raised as a boy his life is turned on its head when he is sexually assaulted. This book hooks you in right away. I started reading it before bed one night and I was up so late devouring every last page because I needed to know what was going to happen to Max. Golden Boy was an incredibly emotional book. At times it could be hard to read (trigger warning for rape) but it was always honest and realistic. 
 The unique thing about this book is that it rotates perspectives between a wide variety of characters - people of different ages and genders. Max, his younger brother, his parents, his doctor. It was incredibly fascinating to see how people at different stages of their life cope with the same situation. In a similar vein, Abigail Tarttelin also gives the reader a wide range of medical perspectives. It was interesting to see how different education or societal pressures (or lack there of) influenced people's opinions and prejudices. 
 Out of all the different characters however I think I liked Max the best. He is definitely a sympathetic character. It absolutely broke my heart watching him cope with being a victim. We see him go through all the different stages. Guilt, blaming himself for not fighting back more, shame, withdrawl from friends and family. I just wanted to reach into the page and hug him. 
 I reviewed another intersex novel earlier this week (Pantomime) and I am glad to see they are out there but would still like to see more and to see more people talking about them. These novels are uniquely able to raise questions about gender - particularly what is means to be male/female and how social constructs shape who we are and who we think we should be. 
 Recommendation: Though Golden Boy is not technically a YA novel I do think it is a book with massive cross over appeal. It's an inspiring and heart breaking story for fans of literary fiction and those who like to questions society's expectations.