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dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Potential parenthood explored from a totally new angle through 3 characters, each flawed in their own special way. I found it really captivating, and had massive amounts of empathy for the characters, but the end felt a little rushed. The nature of the actual ending may really piss some people off too. I really liked that there's no clear "good" character or "bad" one.
One thing I really didn't like about the book is that for a story about trans people, it really trod the line of the gender binary. Ames, the character who detransitioned, at no point explores whether he may actually be non-binary of more gender fluid, despite never having committed to bottom surgery, and clearly having complicated feelings about gender. It also seemed very bizarre to me that at no point did Katrina solidly consider being a single mother, or even moving back in with her own mother or divorced friends and living that way. You were willing to consider sharing your baby with your baby daddy's ex but not raising a kid alone or with other family or friends???
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Transphobia
Minor: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Car accident, Abortion
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fascinating exploration of trans identity and relationships. This book focuses heavily on deeply flawed characters (especially Reese). Every character does deeply frustrating actions that nevertheless feel perfectly in character. There is discussion on how characters feel they must conform to certain stereotypes in order to validate their own gender identity, and the harm it does to them and the people they are close to. The ambiguous ending is indicative of the fact the book has no true answers to the many problems found within, and we, like the characters, have no choice but to try to figure out what solution is most fitting with the characters. In particular, Reese became frustrating with her self destructive behavior and her refusal to learn from her mistakes, constantly doing the same thing over and over while refusing to accept responsibility. Even at the end she only felt bad about a mean letter, not the cheating or emotional abuse she committed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An intimate portrait of three infuriating, vulnerable, and funny women who live in New York and navigate their way around queer relationships, the trials and pains of being trans, gender, and trauma. The cuttingly insightful observations of womanhood, motherhood, familial, platonic and not-so-platonic relationships made this book breathtaking and fascinating. I was rooting for them the whole way through, despite their frustrating but understandable inability to communicate straightforwardly.
I think the ending was very fitting, even though it felt like things reversed back to the status quo: Ames is still insecure in her gender; Reese still doesn't have a baby; Katherine will have an abortion and lose another baby; none of them were ever ready for a baby, despite how much they wanted a family together. It was probably the best ending that would've been believable (no sudden Disney glow-ups into becoming the perfect parent)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is an absolute masterpiece. These characters and all they face will live on in my head for years to come. Torrey Peters has achieved a rare balance of poetic, descriptive writing while being grounded and accessible.
I’ve learned so much from this book and have much to reflect on about women in the broadest definition of the word and what it means to live as a woman - especially trans - in this moment in time.
I’ve learned so much from this book and have much to reflect on about women in the broadest definition of the word and what it means to live as a woman - especially trans - in this moment in time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Transphobia
Moderate: Suicide
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Transphobia
Moderate: Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria
Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide
Maybe I’ll revisit this someday?
It just wasn’t really what I was expecting. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting. The main characters are very messy people who make questionable decisions, which on one hand is nice to see because it allows trans people to be messy and human just like everyone else without the expectation of perfect representation, but on the other hand, I don’t really care to read about Reese’s questionable sex life for a huge chunk of the book (well, the beginning at least). I feel like all I know about her is she’s trans, has terrible taste in men and little self worth. I also (as a childfree person) really didn’t like how the characters were going about the whole parenting thing. I stopped somewhere in the middle of chapter two, but the way Katrina was like ‘I’m only having the baby if I have a co parent’ made me feel like she didn’t actually want a baby and should probably just get the abortion. As well as Ames using the pregnancy seemingly just as an excuse to kind of get back together with Reese in a way. It bothers me so much seeing people become parents for stupid reasons, and the characters in this book were all way too messy to care for a child, and two of them didn’t even seem like they wanted to.
I have no objective issues with the book, it’s just not for me.
It just wasn’t really what I was expecting. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting. The main characters are very messy people who make questionable decisions, which on one hand is nice to see because it allows trans people to be messy and human just like everyone else without the expectation of perfect representation, but on the other hand, I don’t really care to read about Reese’s questionable sex life for a huge chunk of the book (well, the beginning at least). I feel like all I know about her is she’s trans, has terrible taste in men and little self worth. I also (as a childfree person) really didn’t like how the characters were going about the whole parenting thing. I stopped somewhere in the middle of chapter two, but the way Katrina was like ‘I’m only having the baby if I have a co parent’ made me feel like she didn’t actually want a baby and should probably just get the abortion. As well as Ames using the pregnancy seemingly just as an excuse to kind of get back together with Reese in a way. It bothers me so much seeing people become parents for stupid reasons, and the characters in this book were all way too messy to care for a child, and two of them didn’t even seem like they wanted to.
I have no objective issues with the book, it’s just not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse
Minor: Infertility, Racism, Antisemitism, Abortion
The gore is just animal gore, at least as far as I read
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia
Minor: Hate crime, Physical abuse
It’s been confirmed that long chapters work against my experience of a book… Unfortunately. I found it hard at times to pick this book back up while also really wanting to love it. There are some cracking narrative parts in it for sure throughout. I did also find some parts of it a bit long. Maybe it was a case of “wrong time” for me with this one atm. I’m really glad I read it though.
It’s a story that’s insightful and definitely worth telling (and absorbing) - as is anything outside the heteronormative btw. For ppl to learn and expand their horizons - including on the question on motherhood within and outside the lgbtq+ community.
I found the characters messy and flawed and unlikeable at time which worked really well to illustrate the (difficult) dynamic between the trio.
It didn’t sit right with me that Iris kept using the she/her pronoun with Ames even though it might have been a subtle way for the author to say that misgendering doesn’t just happen outside the trans community, but if so I found it too subtle as it wasn’t pointed out and I just thought it was disrespectful and unnecessarily mean (even though Iris dislikes Ames).
It’s a story that’s insightful and definitely worth telling (and absorbing) - as is anything outside the heteronormative btw. For ppl to learn and expand their horizons - including on the question on motherhood within and outside the lgbtq+ community.
I found the characters messy and flawed and unlikeable at time which worked really well to illustrate the (difficult) dynamic between the trio.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Outing, Gaslighting
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Transphobia