Lucy Sante's memoir presents identity and authenticity as both deeply personal and inescapably social constructs, revealing how the journey toward authentic self-expression unfolds across decades of careful negotiation with family, society, and internal doubt. At its core, the narrative demonstrates that authenticity is not a destination but an ongoing process of alignment between internal reality and external presentation.

Sante's understanding of identity is notably intersectional, positioning her gender transition within a broader constellation of identities: immigrant, Walloon, twice-divorced parent, retired professor, and artist. This multiplicity suggests that authenticity doesn't require choosing a single defining characteristic but rather organizing various aspects of selfhood around a newly acknowledged center. Her transition becomes not an erasure of previous identities but a reorganization that finally allows all parts of herself to coexist coherently.

The memoir reveals authenticity as both liberating and costly. Sante's observation about moving from an...