GLR November-December 2023

in Germany. So immersed does Leyla become in the Yazidi way of life that she begins to experience identity questions, especially when Yazidi traditions concerning marriage to a boy from the village begin to conflict with her sense of herself. Some of the stories recall the long history of violence to which the Yazidis have been subjected. On an early visit, Leyla learns the distinction between misfortune (illness, accident, poor harvests) and ferman (exemplified by their being forced to flee from massacres overnight and the religiously motivated murder of her grandmother’s father). As the first part of the novel closes, Leyla’s secular Communist father recounts in detail his impris onment and torture, which culminate in his unexpected release and flight to Germany, where much of the second part of the novel takes place. The switch to Germany as the primary setting allows Oth mann to develop themes that have only been suggested earlier. She explores the struggles of immigrants in a Western country that continues to despise Kurds, as revealed by Leyla’s early ex periences in her Munich school. Leyla’s lesbian life in Munich and during her college days in Leipzig is also explored. Part 2 begins with news of the Arab spring, signaling the urgency of current events for Leyla and her family, a subject that begins to occupy center stage in Leyla’s consciousness. For example, after a passionate weekend with a new lover, Sascha, Leyla returns to her apartment to learn of the random execution of a cousin in Syria, and immediately feels guilt that even as she had been dancing in a club, her cousin was being shot on a bus. Similarly, Leyla’s trip to Sascha’s childhood summer home on the icy Baltic sharply contrasts with her steamy childhood summers in Syria and establishes a distance between the two women. This gap widens when Sascha reveals that she has told her mother about Leyla and asks if Leyla has come out to her family, an act that Leyla can’t even imagine. As conditions in Syria dramatically worsen for Leyla’s fa ther’s family and Leyla becomes increasingly absorbed by them, she moves from one apartment to another in Leipzig, packing only her backpack and gym bag. This dislocation parallels the constant movement of the Yazidis from place to place. The back pack and gym bag may function as a contemporary version of the lightly packed suitcase, a Yazidi household requirement in case the family had to flee on short notice, and a central symbol of the novel. Early in The Summers , when Leyla wishes to take notes on the details of the Yazidi faith that she’s learning about, her grandmother admonishes: “No, write it down? For what? ... Bet ter in the head, she said. There it is safe from everything.” In vi olating her character’s injunction, Ronya Othmann’s elusive and compelling novel has performed a great service to readers in the Western world. Its documentation of Yazidi customs and history can deepen our understanding of events that we may have only heard about on the news, if that. The novel contains a useful glossary of terms, though it might also have been help ful to include a calendar of key events in Yazidi history, since they continue to play a role in current events and the historical connections are not always clear. Still, Othmann is to be com mended (along with her adept translator Gary Schmidt) for shin ing a light on an often overlooked culture. ________________________________________________________________ Anne Charles cohosts the cable-access show All Things LGBTQ . 44

Who Is Amy Schneider?

W ILLIAM B URTON IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life by Amy Schneider Avid Reader Press, 288 pages, $28.

I F YOU’RE A FAN of the TV game show Jeopardy!, then you’re probably familiar with the incredible Amy Schnei der. As one of the first openly transgender contestants on the show, she won an amazing forty consecutive games, second only to Ken Jennings’ 74-game streak, and she earned over $1.3 million dollars in regular play, plus another $250k when she won the 2022 Tournament of Champions. Her success on Jeopardy! has made Schneider something of a national celebrity and allowed her to become a trailblazer for the LGBT community. She’s consistently asked how she “got so smart”—a question she has gotten since childhood. In her new memoir, In the Form of a Question , Schneider tackles that ques tion along with many others that people have raised. In a set of well-formulated essays, she responds to questions like: “When did you know you were trans?”; “What teachers made a differ ence to you?”; and “What’s it like to have ADD?” Also featured in the book’s 22 chapters are questions on tarot readings, sex,

drug use, and fame, and together they give the reader a good sense of the woman she has become. In dealing with these subjects, Schneider is open and honest about what she refers to as the “messiness” of her life. As a role model for some people, she feels it’s important to reveal that messiness to make the point that her fans and admirers, regard less of their limitations, can accomplish something of impor tance, as she has done. She’s blunt about her sexual history, her complex relationships, her ADD—which she credits with her addiction to learning—along with her opinions about polyamory, alternative lifestyles, and her transition. Schneider covers a lot of territory, starting with her Catholic upbringing in the heart of the conservative Midwest and her move to the more liberal West Coast. Her reflections on drug use, the War on Drugs campaign, and the unusual 1990 TV anti drug special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue are perceptive and Amy Schneider winning the 2022 Tournament of Champions on Jeopardy!

TheG & LR