Wrapped In Blue: A Journey of Discovery [Paperback]

Donna Rose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2003

Wrapped In Blue is Donna Rose's deeply personal memoir of self-discovery. The emotional story of her courageous and difficult journey across the gender line challenges the reader to consider life, love and gender in a new and insightful way. In the process, it provides a unique, intriguing, and sometimes humorous perspective on the differences between men and women.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donna Rose has a remarkable story. For her first 40 years she lived a successful and seemingly full life as a man. She was a world-class collegiate athlete, a husband, a father and a successful businessman. That world imploded under her need to explore and reconcile vexing gender confusion that had plagued her since childhood.

Donna's transformation has been extraordinary. Very few who meet her today have any clue about her unique pedigree. She is a noted speaker and educator, as well as an advocate for transgender and diversity issues. She actively promotes the power of the human spirit, and the ability that each of us has to define and manage our lives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 357 pages
• Publisher: Living Legacy Press (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972955305
• ISBN-13: 978-0972955300
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #913,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Transgender

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly well-written, September 23, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wrapped In Blue: A Journey of Discovery (Paperback)

Wrapped in Blue, a frank and sincere memoir about one mans physical and emotional journey into womanhood (including sex-reassignment surgery), is surprisingly well-written, considering the author is not a schooled writer. History, fact, and narrative were balanced by realistic dialogue and vivid scenes.
David Rose had a normal childhood, became a jock, married, and had a son. At several points in his life, he fantasized about being a woman, occasionally donning womens clothing in private, and even Dave/now Donna acknowledges that the early years of his marriage and the years after the birth of his son were some of the happiest and most fulfilling of her life.
But always, somewhere within lurked the gender bender tiger, and inevitable the tiger pounced. Dave became driven to face these difficult issues and explore the much misunderstood need to become the woman he had always felt himself to be.
Excellent story-telling. Astounding photos.
For a very different style of telling this uncommon tale, read Jan Morriss Conundrum. Unlike Donna Rose, Morris is a thoroughly experienced and superb writer. Her tale of the same journey is lyrical, passionate, funny, and so literary itll knock your socks off. Without Morriss book out there as the gold standard, Id have given Wrapped in Blue 5 stars. But for a 4-star read, its darned good.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, March 23, 2004

By 

James S. Pauloski (Allentown, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wrapped In Blue: A Journey of Discovery (Paperback)

Why would a person spend over $75,000.00, risk losing family and friends, undergo emotional abuse and endure the limit of human torture, just to "change sex"? Because after decades of pretending, the agony of continuing the pretense is an even worse choice.

I have read a number of autobiographies of transsexuals over the years. But Donna Rose's autobiography is FAR beyond anyone else's that I've read. There's a high Shakespearean quality to it, such as her early chapter entitled "A Metaphor" and her many journal entries. She frequently depressed me (such as when she "pulled the plug"), and then sent me soaring (when she met Kate, and her physical and psychological triumph at Neenah).

Some of Ms. Rose's journal entries were so poignant and so haunting ("we need love and compassion and companionship more than anyone could know, but we're trapped with secrets of a second life that will haunt us until we die") that they seared my soul. Her book rattled me for several days afterwards that I couldn't write about it. It moved me THAT much.

I have read many descriptions about facial feminization surgery (FFS), but no one ever described the unbelievably intense pain associated with it. Similarly, no one EVER described the TORTURE that she willingly but necessarily subjected herself with electrolysis of the scrotum. I've had six surgeries in my life, but I'm certain that the pain of all six combined did not equal either the pain of any transsexual's FFS or electrolysis. She shook me to my core. But it helped to free her to become Donna.

I agree with another reviewer that it would have been nice if Donna had spent more time discussing her life since SRS (she only devoted 10 of the 356 pages to it.) But her 10 simple tips are timeless to everyone at any stage in their lives.

Post-op male-to-female transsexuals are the most oppressed, least understood, and most courageous people on the planet. They have far more courage than most of us so-called "normal" people. I salute them for it.

Ms. Rose has a rare gift to be able to express in words what she feels, sees, hears and does, so that others can share those same feelings, sights, sounds, and experiences. It's as if we've been there too. This is a gift so few humans have. The book is wonderful and highly worthwhile reading.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and candid presented in an intelligent literary style, November 22, 2004

By 

Linda Simpson "LASimpson" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wrapped In Blue: A Journey of Discovery (Paperback)

Having traveled the journey myself I have become bored with many of the biographical accounts of gender transformation that are out there. HOWEVER: Donna's story is not one of those. Her honest and candid details combined with an intelligent literary style presents the story in a manner that makes one laugh at a humorous incident one page then brings tears at the sorrow on another.

Donna's sharing of her families dynamics over the transition situation are the most interesting. She has a spouse who is not only unsupportive but is to such a degree that she tries to prevent Donna from seeking help in the early "questioning" days. While spousal acceptance of Gender Dysphoria is rare, Donna is taken to the extreme of pain and hardship in this case. In contrast, Donna's extended family accept her with little fanfare and turn out to be supportive and loving above and beyond...another rarity.

Reliving Donna's account of these opposites combined with an excellent overview of the processes involved in a sex change transition make this book difficult to put down until one is at the end at which point left me with only more questions. With the feeling of "knowing" Donna because of this excellent detailed book I now wonder "what has happened since." What happened to Elizabeth, her son, her career etc etc.

Good luck to you Donna and I recommend this book to anyone interested in Gender Dysphoria, be it to find information for oneself or on what the journey can entail. It is also just dam good reading to for anyone who enjoys a dramatic story.

Linda A. Simpson
[e-mail]
Webpages:
Linda's Peaceful Garden: http://www.lasimpson.org/LASimpson.html
Linda's Transsexuality Retreat: http://www.lasimpson.org/
Linda's Gender Reassignment in Montréal: http://www.lasimpson.org/LindasGRSinM.html