Reviews with content warning for Infertility - Detransition, Baby

Peters slowly, subtly turns the lives of Reese, Ames, and Katrina into an intricately and mind-blowing plot. It is never predictable, but it feels congruent with the characters.

Characters:

By putting the readers into the heads of Reese and Ames alternatively, Peters manages to build a full portrait of each character. How the character thinks about themselves and how others view the character mesh into a cohesive whole. Peters dives deep in the psychology of her characters in beautiful and explicit language, but she shows as much as she tells. Even before she describes Reese’s toxic behavior and Ames’ journey to detransition, Reese’s manipulativeness and Ames’s self-hatred come through in her writing. Although we never get Katrina’s point of view (thankfully—the last thing I wanted to read was a cis person’s perspective), Katrina’s strengths and flaws come through clearly through Peter’s subtle writing. As damaged as all three characters are, they are easy to understand and with understanding comes sympathy.

Setting:

Most of the book takes place in New York City, although flashbacks take us to places such as Middleton, WI. I don’t know if Peters has ever been to any of these places, but it feels as though she has lived in them for her entire life. The small details add up to form complete pictures of her settings, something many authors try to do but fail. She brilliantly captures the essence of these places in a few lines.

Themes:

Wow. This book has themes. It somehow manages to capture all of the absolute mind-boggling contradictions, pain, and ridiculousness that come with a transgender identity. She takes those and melds them with parenthood, motherhood, and even race. She gets it.

Writing Style:

The informal shifting of perspectives and time jumps can get confusing, but otherwise Detransition, Baby is clearly written. Peters takes time to flesh out all of her characters, settings, and plot points in a way that feels real. It should be noted that she does not take times to explain terminology or concepts to cisgender people—she throws them right in with all of the insider jargon of the transgender and queer communities. However, if the reader is patient and joins along for the ride, they will eventually grasp the meanings behind the language (or they could just look it up).

Conclusion:

What a refreshing piece of literature from the trans perspective that doesn’t feel as though it was written for a cisgender audience! Peters doesn’t obsess over justifying her character’s messy queerness to her readers, she accepts it and treats them as whole people. Yes, every aspect of these characters lives are defined by their gender—such as it is for many transgender people, whether they want to admit it or not—but their individual personalities shine through nonetheless. However, this book was also an excellent piece of work regardless of its perspective. The writing, characters, plot, and setting are magnificently crafted.

Other Points

· This book is not an “easy” read intellectually or emotionally. A lot of the concepts are hard to grasp, and Peter’s isn’t afraid to use big words. It requires your full attention at all times.

· Everyone who reads this book in good faith will find themselves self-reflecting. Just because this book was written by transgender person with transgender characters, doesn’t mean that trans readers are off the hook—Peters exposes all of their ridiculous, self-injurious coping mechanisms and defense mechanisms (as well as white queer people’s sense of self-importance). However, she does it in a way that is not unkind or angry, and she does the same thing for her characters who are cisgender, higher class, and/or mixed-race.

· This book contains countless triggering things, it’s probably best to avoid it if you think something might set you off. I feel as this would especially apply for trans women, because it’s so full of uncomfortable, raw truths about gender dysphoria and coping mechanisms. I would try to list them, but there’s just… so…many.

Content Warnings

rookfeathers's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense slow-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

4.75

I definitely expected something else from this book, but I wouldn't say I'm disappointed. It follows a style of storytelling that I'd definitely tie to ADHD whether the author has it herself or not, with more exposition and backstory about characters than plot progression. It's very insightful and the characters truly feel like real people from very different backgrounds, and over their plentiful flaws they will still have you continue reading for every piece of information.

I think my only qualm with the book is that in a few spots it becomes less of a real-world fictional story and more of a field for the author to convey her ideas and familiar experiences through the character's heads and mouths, presented as if they were unilaterally agreed upon and universally experienced instead of subjective narration by the characters. Most of the time, though, they represent a variety of thought expected for the group of people with their differences. It kind of confuses me why at times you can see brilliant invention as well as strong convictions presented without judgment, and sometimes it feels like the book is directly trying to teach you things. But there's a possibility I'm wrong with my read and it's really just the nuances of tying this made-up story into the real world believably enough.

I was particularly touched by how I felt the book represented borderline - those perfect little moments and nice relationships like spells broken by a single sentence or a single gesture really hit hard if you yourself have a personality disorder or two. Also, the ending.... Oof.

Content Warnings

likeaduck's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was very into the main "baby" plot but less interested in the long digressions into the characters' pasts/childhoods, and found the dialogue fairly prone to social justice monologues, which was a bit at odds with the characters repeatedly defining themselves as not the kind of people who make social justice monologues. Really appreciated a story about 30-something queers trying to navigate family and would have loved more focus on that.

Content Warnings

writtenontheflyleaves's review

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters 🎀
🌟🌟🌟🌟✨
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🤱 The plot: Reese is a trans woman who has always wanted a baby. Ames - formerly Amy - is her ex, who has detransitioned and now gotten his boss, Katrina, a cis woman, pregnant. Ames doesn’t want to be a father, but he thinks he could be a parent if Reese is involved. Can the three of them make co-parenthood work?
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This book is exactly as good as everyone says it is. It’s funny and insightful and sexy and moving. The characters all feel so real and have very distinctive ways of thinking; they speak to topics like gender, sexuality, identity and motherhood in their own voices, and this means the explorations of these topics are nuanced in a way that’s really rare. Peters illustrates well how conversations about identity can fold ironically back on each other after being lived in and repeated so many times, perhaps especially in communities that suffer from so much interrogation and attack. I particularly loved Katrina and Reese’s discussion of who is allowed to have/ want children, and it made me think about my own choices in new ways.
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This book explores really well the messiness of trying to explain or quantify yourself or your life - why you are who you are, why you want what you want - and the way that expansive concepts like parenthood can be made brittle by the rigid structures we grow up within. The characters don’t have ready made answers to these dilemmas; they try to construct them, messily, throughout the book. It was clever and funny and deserves all of the hype it’s getting, and no matter where you’re coming from I think it’ll prompt you to think in new ways about identity and the structure of a life!
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🍼 Read it if you are even a little bit curious, and if you like sharp explorations of gender and identity in your reading!
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🚫 Avoid it if you might find descriptions of transphobia and violence triggering.

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