The Danish Girl Book Review

It's been eon since the last time I posted about book review, although not small number of books I read during the absence. It all goes to my goodreads' account. Check them out!

So I've been using this paid app, where I can read a lot of books! Yeay! It's never a lonely life on commuter line with this app. And I just finished reading the eBook version of The Danish Girl, which currently set up as the object of upcoming literature project with a good friend of mine.

But then I thought of having the book... So I bought this.

This book is adapted to a movie, with the same title, played by Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander

I watched the movie first, and of course it was good. Eddie Redmayne never fails to impress. At some points I can find his hidden identity through his acting, which is pretty much cool! Long story short, here is the book review of The Danish Girl...

Before we get into this book, I'd like to ask you to pause in order to make sure we are all on the same page. When it comes to discussing transgender people, the respectful way to call them in this discussion is by using the right pronoun. Since there would be 2 persons in 1 body, which is Lili and Einar, so it is correct to refer Lili Elbe as what she is specifically identified with. Confused? It's okay. I tried my best not to offend anyone here. So let's get going...

From the movie, I thought the main story was about a life of transsexual. But when I finished the last page of the book, it is less concerned with transgender issues. Surprisingly, the book highlights the ethereal nature of love between Greta and Einar as well as Greta and Lili (which is sweet, in my opinion).

In a nutshell, the book tells about the life of Danish painter, Einar Wegener, who, in 1931 undergone an important surgery; it was sexual transition's operation. He is actually one of the first people who went to sex reassignment surgery. The book is fictionalized, however it is taken from Lili's notes and journal, started from his transitional feelings, coming out, confusion, to finally the exact surgery, with a hope Lili could actually be a mother to her children with Henrik. But in the end she died because of it. In total, she went to 3 times of sex reassignment surgery, which at the time was pretty much a new thing. So it was a brave movement of Lili.

DISCLAIMER: There would be a lot of spoiler after this caution. Please consider to stop it right here and continue reading the book to find out the rest of the story.

The conflict starts when Einar's Californian wife, Greta, also a painter, unwittingly unleash her husband's inner self on the path to transformation. It all started from her rotten painting career. She couldn't be as famous as her husband nor sell any painting she already finished. When she had a commission to paint an opera singer as the object of her painting, Anna, the chosen model was busy bellowing her lungs out. In the end, it was Einar who was used to put on the opera singer's dress. That was the beginning of the conflict.

Einar turned out feeling different and instantly in love with it, while Greta was too busy admiring the combination, of how her husband looked so pretty on that dress until she started calling him Lili. The name was taken when Einar held a bouquet of flowers while modeling for the Greta's painting.

In my opinion, it relates to Frued's theory about id, ego and superego. In the end we are the emotions we endure, buried in the deepest place of our mind. So when there is a trigger to unleash our inner self, it can go uncontrollably wild. Just like what happened to Einar. However, the opera singer's dress is only the trigger. Deep in his mind, he admires this particular memory of playing pretend with Hans, when they were kids. Hans, who was a little kid too couldn't resist the beauty of Einar's face so they arranged to play pretend as a pair of couple in the barn of Einar's house. And that memory was the wild beast, because it kept hidden inside of his mind. It was under control until his skin touched that silky dress. 

That thing became untamed until Einar decided to do the operation. Interesting fact, Professor Bolk, who treated Lili to go to a full transformation found another genital around his abdomen. Yup, it turns out, Einar has 2 sex organs! Does it relate to the fact that he is a homosexual in the beginning? I don't think so. As far as I know, sex has nothing to do with sexual orientation. Gender is fluid and can go places. It is always the id, which is hidden inside that has something to sexual orientation. 

The paintings of Lili gain attention from an art critic in Paris as well as she gains attention from a male painter named Henrik. However, Lili doesn't want to admit to Henrik that she is actually a man, so she breaks up with him. As Einar became more depressed with being Einar, Greta sensed something was wrong with Einar. She tracked down Einar's childhood friend, Hans, who was in Paris. 

When in Paris, while Greta's paintings were becoming very successful, Einar could become Lili all the time. But sometimes Einar's inner self was surfaced and at that time he used it to visit a peep show where you can watch women strip while dancing. His purpose in visiting this kind of place? To learn to move more like a woman.

The depression had had Einar hate him for being Einar. He wanted to be Lili all the time up to the point he planned to kill himself if he cannot be Lili. Fortunately Greta came to the rescue and support his decision. She arranged some appointments to various doctors, where one X-Rayed Einar and make a conclusion that Einar has this big gay demon out of him. Another doctor wanted him to commit himself as a schizophrenia, while the third one wanted to give him a lobotomy. In the end Greta found Professor Bolk who had developed a surgery to physically change a man into a woman.

And that's pretty much the review and summary of The Danish Girl. I still think this kind of book is interesting. At the time where transgender people was not allowed to wander around the city, or Denmark, to be more specific, lived Einar Wegener with his dreams to transform into a complete version of real woman.

I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.