Aug. 13, 1999 - Booked Solid

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth

BOOKED Solid

A Review by Rebecca James

Trumpet, by Jackie Kay; fiction, 278 p, 1998

Even honest people will learn to deceive if it means protecting their peace of mind, their life, their families. My favorite stories usually involve a character who wants to know more than just what that secret is; they also want to know why it was necessary in the first place. Whom were they protecting? What was the cost? Other books I have reviewed have explored this theme, After Long Silence in particular. Trumpet is a little different; it's fiction, for one, although it is based on a true story. Trumpet is also written from several perspectives: a mother, her son, a journalist, and the people they encounter during the months following a father's death. Each person has their own questions, but only one person has all the answers, Joss Moody, and he is dead.

What is Joss Moody hiding? "There is something he has to tell me. Something he should have told me ages ago, months ago, but couldn't. He was afraid that if I knew I would stop seeing him. I feel sick..." He undresses; "Underneath his vest are lots of bandages wrapped round and round his chest. He starts to undo them. He keeps unwrapping endless rolls of bandage. I am still holding out my hands [to embrace him] when the first of his breasts reveals itself to me. Small, firm." Joss Moody, musician, dapper young lover, woman?

The story is not in the secret, as the reader will learn throughout the novel. Instead, it is in the evolution of reactions, both public and private, to the death of a famous trumpet player who lived as a man, only to be re-sexed in death. "No doubt they will call me a lesbian," thinks Millicent, his wife of many years, "They will find words to put on to me. Words that don't fit me. Words that don't fit Joss." Joss Moody lived as a man since his teens; not only as his public persona, not simply to make it in the music world, not even because he wanted to hide his lesbianism. Joss Moody lived as a man because he was a man. What makes a man a man? Is it simply genitalia? Does my female lover make me a lesbian? Or is there something deeper? Society has created, for better or for worse, socialized labels that may be used to trap people within certain categories, but may be used to one's advantage, also. By associating gender roles and stereotypes with each sex, have we not also created an escape route for people who do not fit these stereotypes? If all men wear suits and marry women, then is not the person walking up ahead in the suit with his arm around a young woman a man? Does the suit make the man or does the man make the suit?

These are the types of questions that Trumpet raises. To be completely honest, the novel itself is not particularly brilliant. The writing is satisfactory, the plot does not drag; the characters are interesting and well-developed, but not extraordinary. As I read the book, though, I found myself making mental notes, wishing I had a pencil on me to raise debate in the margins. The arguments that arose were typical of an open-minded person trying to make sense of something that does not fit within even the kindest of labels. Transsexual? Trans-gender? Cross-dresser? Still labels, still separating and categorizing a person simply trying to live a life. Even my arguments to "defend" Joss Moody were trying to rationalize that he was a man. Does it matter?

Millicent fell in love with Joss Moody in a blood donor's hall in Glasgow. His smooth black skin, the color of Highland toffee, thick hair, neat nails on the tips of beautiful hands, were all enhanced by the intensity of his stare, the arrogance of the tilt in his chin. His father was African, his mother Scottish. She is English, white, and her mother is not thrilled about her marriage to Joss Moody, but the issue of color and race play a very small role in the story. I think European attitudes are much different than Americans, and the author, Jackie Kay, is Scottish herself. She is obviously more interested in the gender implications than color. Millicent is one of the best-developed characters in the novel, and very likeable. Kay intends for the reader to be empathetic with her plight.

Colman Moody is angry. His father lied to him. His parents never talked about these issues, even in a hypothetical sense. He was raised like the rest of the world, with clear definitions and boundaries, nothing scary, nothing weird. But this...if a person's gender is the center of their identity, what happens if that gender is a lie? Is everything a lie? Puberty, mates, chicks, all that male-bonding crap. No wonder he never saw his father naked. No wonder Joss never taught him to swim. No wonder.

Sophie Stones is a journalist on the brink of something big. Joss Moody is a dyke! Or a transvestite? "Transvestite has a nice pervy ring to it...The Trumpet Man/Woman. The Life and Times of the Transvestite Trumpet Player. Now You See Her, Now You Don't...Daddy, You Blew It...A headline is only around for a day, but a title's permanent like hair dye. I've got to get it right. They should have no trouble selling this book. People are interested in weirdos, sex-changes, all that stuff." Sophie Stones is a two-bit, money-hungry, trash hack.

You'll also meet Doctor Krishnamurty, who took her red pen and, for the first time in her career, crossed out male on the death certificate and scrawled female. Twice. Just to make it clear Joss Moody was no man. "Doctor Krishnamurty wondered at the woman [Millicent] waiting for her downstairs...She decided to say nothing...The last thing she saw before the door had closed completely was the bandage curled on the bed like a snake." Members of Moody's band, friends, the man who recorded the official death certificate, people who encountered Moody in various stages of his life, all offer their own opinion on the "scandal," many with a lesson to teach about privacy and hasty judgments.

So, all in all, Trumpet is an interesting read. Be prepared for the issues it may bring up, and you may learn something about yourself. Discuss it with your friends at the beach, and you may learn something about them, too!

Rebecca James is the assistant manager at Browseabout Books. She's also responsible, hardworking, a pleasure to rent to, and, coincidently, looking for a place to live. Suggestions? Stop in!

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 9, No. 11, Aug. 13, 1999