The History of My Sexuality | Granta

  • Published: 18/01/2024
  • ISBN: 9781783788811
  • Granta Books
  • 192 pages

The History of My Sexuality

Tobi Lakmaker

Translated by Kristen Gehrman

‘The history of my sexuality is as follows: I have always been looking for someone to close all the doors and windows, someone who would say, okay, that’s enough now. More precisely, first I was into men and later into women, but really always into women…into so many women really-but I kept my eyes and another crucial body part tightly closed. Not that any of that actually matters.’

Meet Sofie, a young woman living in Amsterdam who feels unfeminine and is more attracted to women than to men. She feels she’s wrong about pretty much everything: ‘About the boys and the girls, the right answer and – much more importantly – the right question’. This history of her sexuality begins with the loss of her virginity and ends right before she starts to visit the hospital where you can become ‘less of a girl and more of a boy’. Will she ever untangle the impossible knot of sex, love, loneliness, learning, family relationships and grief that constitutes a life? Does it even matter?
Razor-sharp and unconventional, this dazzlingly witty debut novel – a sensation on publication in Europe – challenges, surprises and entertains in equal measure.

Funny, joyous and wholly irreverent... a breath of fresh air... it is incredibly moving to follow Sofie's journey to the place it's possible to become "less of a girl and more of a boy"

Catherine Taylor, Irish Times

Instantly engaging... Lakmaker's version of millennial coming-of-age romance stands apart for its unmatched ability simply to keep the wisecracks coming... No subject is out of bounds for the book's enjoyably zinger-packed candour... It's winningly upfront... You suspect there's a lot more to come from Lakmaker - and I can't wait

Anthony Cummins, Daily Mail

Funny and affecting... In an era that demands people trade in absolutes - affirm exactly who they are, what they feel and believe, while shoring up the boundaries of what a person can be - the phrase "less girl, more boy" is fitting for a novel that depicts life as a process of change, questioning and discovery; and by doing so, touches on something closer to the truth

Rebecca Liu, Guardian

The Author

TOBI LAKMAKER was born in 1994 and lives in Amsterdam. He writes columns for De Groene Amsterdammer and LINDA.meiden. The History of My Sexuality is his first book.

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