Reviews with content warning for Death - Detransition, Baby

This is a story mainly centred around Reese and Ames, however we also get the foundation stories of many peripheral characters. I enjoy a story that acknowledges the world doesn’t revolve around simple one or two characters, that everyone has a story.

The story of Reese and Ames is complicated, a duo who are sometimes friends, sometimes lovers, sometimes suspected adversaries. Like their relationship each person is deeply complex, and that’s depicted beautifully throughout Detransition, Baby.

The story poses complex emotions towards gender stereotypes and it had me thinking long after I put the book down. To further complicate the storyline it has time jumps, but is so clearly written out and depicted you won’t have trouble keeping up.

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stayathomereader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookscoffeehayley's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s hard to describe my thoughts on Torrey Peters’, Detransition, Baby. I did like this book. I did not like this book as an audiobook. Peters writes a chaotic, messy, heartfelt novel about identity, motherhood, fatherhood, womanhood, and what it means to be a parent. It’s messy, but it’s real. It works.

This is a heavily character-driven book. The flaws, trauma, and personalities of the three main characters, Ames, Reese, and Katrina, are at the forefront of this novel in an unapologetic manner.

The trans representation in this book is realistic. So often in books where there are trans characters, they are represented as ‘Disney-fied’ versions of humans. Reese, specifically, opens a window into the life of a trans woman whose life isn’t always a perfect ending story. Reese is a character whom I was rooting for, getting angry with, sympathizing with, throughout the entire novel. One of my favorite characters I’ve read about this year.

Something that made this audiobook feel clunky to me was the shifting of time periods in the middle of chapters. These chapters are quite long and throughout them, there would be shifts in time periods and shifts of point of view. There were also sections of long tangents that felt to distract from the main message or plot of the chapter. Maybe because I read this book via an audiobook it was often confusing? I think the plot may have been relayed more cohesively with broken-up chapters. I also think a reread of this book in a physical format would help my reading experience a ton!

I definitely recommend reading this book for members of the LGTBQ+ community and allies. It’s unlike any other book I’ve read with queer representation. I’m excited to read more from Torrey Peters in the future!

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balladofreadingqueer's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. It’s fast paced, gripping storyline drew me in from the first chapter. It centres on Reese (a white trans woman), Ames/Amy (a white detransitioned man) and Katrina (A cis mixed race Asian American woman).

The chapters jump along different timelines so it can sometimes be difficult to follow exactly what is happening but it also allows you to get into the stories and experiences of the characters.

The central plot is that Ames has gotten Katrina pregnant, when he didn’t think he could due to hormonal treatment when he transitioned. He asks his ex-girlfriend Reese, who really wants a child to be a co-parent with them.

The story explores gender, gender roles and what families can look like. It also discusses the difficulties and joys of being a transwoman from the perspective of Reese and Ames/Amy.

The story ends in an unexpected way with little/limited resolution. This was initially frustrating as I wanted to know what happened but it made me think about the book and characters more to decide what they would have chosen in the end.

Also this book is funny and relatively lighthearted even though it covers suicide, attempted-suicide, familial rejection, and domestic violence.

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starla's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

4.0

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