Jewish transgender transformation explored in new book

If – as former Apple CEO John Sculley once said – timing is everything, author Larry Goldsmith has managed to pull off the fictional coup of the decade by producing a work of fiction book that is totally outside of his experience.

The forensic attorney/accountant and author of the non-fiction book Divorce Chicago Style, writes about the transformational life of an average Jewish kid in the Cleveland area who is impacted by two major life events: his parents’ accidental deaths followed by an act of terrorism that results in his bold decision to transition from male to female. 

Marc Marci, published in 2021, introduces the reader to Marc, a relatively typical teen raised in an observant Jewish household whose world is upended dramatically by his parents deaths just as he is about to start college. Despite their often-articulated and fervent wish that Marc pursue a university education, he is in no emotional shape to pursue academics, so he decides to postpone things by taking a gap year.

Choosing to start his contemplative backpacking journey in England where his parents first met, Marc planned to continue on to the continent. His fortuitous arrival on the English coast brought him into contact with several endearing characters, but it is Gabrielle and Cristina, a loving lesbian couple, who take him under their wing. A night at a London disco with Gabrielle, Cristina and their friends that was supposed to be a joyous celebration of life proved a catastrophic experience when a bomb went off that destroyed his male reproductive system.

Marc survived the bomb blast but it triggered within him the deep-seated realization that he wanted to live his life as a woman, launching a painful, physical and emotional journey that would ultimately take him to a French physician specializing in transgender surgical procedures. Going through the surgery enabled Marc to envision himself as the woman he was becoming and the support he received from the community that had begun to build at this juncture in his life proved especially important to his metamorphosis.

Caught in-between the world he occupied as a male and the one Marci was learning to occupy as a woman, she elected to pick up her life where it had previously been disrupted by fulfilling his parent’s wish of earning a college degree. She returns to the US, where she succeeds intellectually on myriad fronts as a student and also becomes completely immersed in what was already a deep and abiding Jewish faith. College life and her affiliation with an on-campus Chabad prove an essential element in Marci’s transition, as readers quickly realize.

As her academic life ends and she falls into a career that is so successful it transcends ambitions she had hoped for in the past, Marci is supported not only by friends, lovers and business colleagues but especially by her Uncle Jack. He remains a pivotal figure in her life and his total acceptance of her as a woman helps heal some of the pain of her parents’ demise. It’s at this point in her life that Marci acknowledges her deepest desires to find a loving partner, marry and have children.

Goldsmith’s detailed investigation into the challenges Marci faces, roadblocks she overcomes and especially the realization that not every person she encounters would be as receptive to this metamorphosis. But just as life has begun to take the shape she desires, aspects of her past threaten everything she had built and this would test her mettle dramatically as her past life becomes fodder for investigators undertaking security clearances for a high-level job.

How many themes can a reader handle while taking this arduous journey with Marci? Hopefully, a selection of them. For starters, in today’s growingly enlightened world, acceptance remains the backbone of this story as Marci figures out who she can trust – including herself – when it comes to navigating a confusing world.

Another important facet of this tale has to do with the secrets we all keep – some of which have the profound ability to destroy a carefully built life, even when not all of the truth is told. Through it all Marci evolves, in great part thanks to the people who come to love and care for her.

 Must a reader be enlightened about transgender issues before reading this book to fully accept the evolution of this character? That depends. One thing that won’t be difficult to understand for readers of all sexual persuasions is the fear and trepidation anyone seeking to hide secrets experiences as “fear of being found out” is certainly not limited to people who have no interest in seeking another sexual identity. 

What about the serendipitous circumstances that occurred – the London bombing that disfigured Marc’s body? Does it strain reader credulity to ask, “Would Marc have transitioned had he not been the victim of this horrific circumstance?” The answer will depend upon the reader and whether or not it feels logical that an underlying yearning to be a female existed just under the surface for Marc over time. 

A serious thread that weaves throughout this complicated story is the never-ending relationship Marc and then Marci have with their unshakable Jewish faith. Being Jewish, she believes to her core, is part of her DNA no matter one’s gender and a lifeline to the past that pervades everything that is precious to her as she travels this dicey road to self-acceptance, personal and professional success.

Will non-Jewish readers who know little about the faith be able to get through this work of fiction without the use of a reference book that explains the religion’s complexities? That’s a question that remains unanswered, though one can infer from the topic that this book is a more likely choice of someone who is curious about a variety of things and is willing to go the distance when Goldsmith transports the reader to the Jewish Chabad campus ministry that delivers another major turning point for Marci.

Further, Goldsmith has done his homework. According to Rabbi David J. Meyer, who wrote the article “What the Torah Teaches Us About Gender Fluidity and Transgender Justice,” “Jewish traditional wisdom allowed for such possibilities, and especially our mystical texts, the Kabbalah, address the notion of transitioning from one gender to another.”

As a new novelist, Goldsmith is still finding his storytelling legs. What he brings to his writing – a background in legal forensics, obvious fascination with the topic and a passion for Judaism – goes a long way in smoothing out the stumbles in this book. Marc Marci may not be the most skilled look at someone struggling with gender transformation, but it offers an honest exploration of a timely subject in the form of fiction.