Yeah, that was my concern. To be honest I'm not sure a white American woman was the best person to be tackling this kind of story. I like stories that are about clashing cultures, and in which mythology is real, and in which characters survive trauma to find joy, strength and power, and regarding these elements The Wolf in the Whale does really well. But I think Brodsky should have left Indigenous cultures' understanding of gender well alone — I think she thinks of the main character as having been a cis woman all along, deceived in childhood about their 'real' gender. Given that's the case, I think Brodsky should have written the character as a cis girl to begin with, because I don't think she was qualified to tackle gender in the way she did, certainly in a culture not her own. (I'm not of the opinion that no one should ever write outside their experience, but I am of the opinion that they need to be cautious when doing so.)