[2] Lavery subsequently cut ties with his biological family, and revised the book two weeks before its publication to remove positive characterizations of his father.

The first is a rewriting of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a play made up entirely of text messages, while the second revisits Lavery's early experiences of romance:[2] Perhaps it would have been better for me if I could have seen the movie 'Velvet Goldmine' or heard of the Smiths at that age instead, and transitioned at fourteen.

But I did not have access to 'Velvet Goldmine' or the Smiths; I had access to Alannah Myles and Sir Gawain and church and was going to have to make do with what I had.In an interview for Electric Literature, Lavery told Calvin Kasulke that the book "feels more memoir-adjacent than memoir" because it includes "mostly the thoughts in about a 20 to 24 month period of my life immediately preceding and then in the first year and a half or so of my transition, and then also every thought that ever led me to that point.

[1] In The New York Times Book Review, Jordy Rosenberg stated that the nonlinear narrative of Something That May Shock and Discredit You makes it "addictively strange and delightful".

He described Lavery as a "lapidarist of gender transition" and praised his avoidance of common tropes related to the subject, such as "tragic transness" and self-righteousness.

The review stated that "what makes these wide-ranging essays work as a coherent collection are the author's poignant reflections on faith and gender" and described Lavery as "refreshingly unafraid of his own uncertainty", concluding that "everyone should read this extraordinary book.

"[7] In Publishers Weekly, Nino Cipri described Lavery's writing style in the book as "erudite, self-effacing, and welcoming" and noted his use of biblical parables to discuss gender transition.

[4] A review in The New Yorker praised Lavery's ability to switch between "criticism, personal essay, and literary pastiche" and described the book as "a road map for navigating one remarkable writer's mind.

"[10] In Happy Mag, Dan Shaw wrote a positive review of Something That May Shock and Discredit You, and stated that "you might think of it as a stream of consciousness, but that would belie the chiselled articulation of the prose [...] it's an adventure, but a guided one".

Club, which gave Something That May Shock and Discredit You a letter grade of B+, described the text as "three eloquent books in one" in reference to its combination of essays, memoir, and cultural analysis.

"[13] In The Daily Californian, Alex Jiménez rated the book 5 out of 5, writing that "through individualized commentary on both popular and high art, Lavery lays himself out in pieces and puts them back together, one quippy chapter after another."

[17] BuzzFeed News included it in a May 2021 list of "12 Great Books That Challenge Toxic Masculinity", with writer Alex McElroy describing it as "a genre-blending pastiche" that is "equal parts elusive and honest".