Books
Jesse James Rose On Exploring The Complicated Process Of Healing In Her Memoir
Jesse James Rose’s heartfelt and exuberant memoir, Sorry I Keep Crying During Sex, shifts seamlessly between the eras in her life before and after a sexual assault. Before the assault: she’s blissfully in love with her new boyfriend, exploring her gender identity, and enjoying a thriving acting career in New York. After the assault, she’s heartbroken over her relationship’s demise and has moved in with her grandparents to care for her grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s. Rose boldly tells her story through a variety of formats: lists, theatrical scenes, DMs, and text exchanges, deftly playing with form as she investigates different areas of her life. Through it all, Rose, a noted transgender actor and activist, employs her storytelling skills to immense effect, writing movingly about trauma, relationships, and what true restorative justice could look like. Critics have heaped praise on the book, with Rolling Stone writing, “the cheeky title only begins to scratch the surface of the humorous and frank self-awareness that jumps out on every page of this non-fiction tell-all,” and Kirkus Reviews calling it “an intimate, emotionally honest patchwork quilt of trauma, compassion, desire, and identity.” Rose spoke with us about the process of inviting readers into her brain and the evolving process of healing.
