Reviews tagging 'Death'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

87 reviews

lovegriefandgender's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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

5.0

It's tough being trans. As I was reading Detransition, Baby a 16-year old trans girl was murdered in London, and unable to articulate so much rush of feeling I turned hungrily, savagely back to the pages of the book. It seems to be a place, being trans, of endless longing and therefore endless loss, where we are summoned to question our own pain and circular motions and regret and suffering against any other group who had experienced any of those things. I don't think we're brave. Not really. I think we live in an interrogated space, a grey space, where no future can be known as fact.  Then we have to ask what we want: motherhood? Career? Love? Sex? Most of us would be happy just to have something meaningful to say. Yeah. This is where we live. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abortion, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Self harm, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

natalienicholas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Dysphoria, Miscarriage, Abortion, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia

leontyna's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

4.0

This book felt vulgar in its realism at first, I felt like a peeping creeper, watching lives so different to my own. Yet I could not stop reading and at some point it unlocked a completely new perspective on a topic I felt so educated about when I bought this book. Now I know how little I know and understand. 
The book itself waa very engaging, I really liked the perspecrive and chronological shifts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Sexual content

Moderate: Transphobia and Deadnaming

Minor: Violence and Death

cortbrew's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abortion, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage

annabulkowski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Body horror, Car accident, Cursing, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Hate crime, Suicide, Blood, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Sexism, Transphobia, Classism, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Pregnancy

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wonderful exploration of found family and diversity of queer relationships and culture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Miscarriage, and Death

Moderate: Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Misogyny, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Drug use

arrakistowesteros's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I finished this book, turned to my husband, and said "This is easily in my top five for books this year." I don't have any other words to describe it because I am in full-on book hangover right now. I think EVERYONE needs to read this immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria

Moderate: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Death

Minor: Transphobia

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I hate contemporary references in books–most readers do–but I can't exactly explain what sets this book apart from the others. With most books I think, This had the potential to be timeless, but unfortunately they made reference to [insert pop culture moment that was probably already out of date by the time the book was published]. Not here, though. In fact I argue it is a strength of the book. Something about it makes me feel like despite the references to now / pre-pandemic / mid- to late 2010s, this book will be regarded as a queertrans time capsule. It could be studied in 300 level university courses, and honestly it probably will be sooner than you think. I'm very excited to see what Miss Peters has in store next. I will be pre-ordering.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Drug use, Body shaming, Classism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Infertility

Minor: Car accident, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, and Biphobia

There needs to be a tag for slurs that aren't racial.

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

what a read. detransition, baby is a relevatory and provocative novel, one which i delight in its intriguing premise, great execution, brilliant emotional characterization and telling of a trans experience.

peters incisively and grippingly examines motherhood, the trans experience, gender, identity politics, sex and sex work in this book, stripping layer upon layer of complexity thats enmeshed in a dash of political correctness, making her characters bare all, voicing taboos and things that are oft unspoken - representational politics be damned - to exhilarating effect. indeed, there were moments that simply stupefied me of how good this book is. and i learned a lot abt transness, this book having depicted in a humane sense many terms i merely know of but have never truly understood in depth.

meanwhile, the characters (and esp reese) are a hot mess - in a sense that theyre all each deep in a certain level of shit - specifically life shit - and trying to navigate thru a surprise pregnancy in different ways, each forced to face their own issues in the process. the ability to make readers empathize w/ characters who they sometimes also want to throttle is certainly a hallmark of a great writer, but peters, imo, goes above and beyond here. this esp pertains to ames/amy, whose story connects w/ me in a visceral way; we couldnt be more different, but her story deeply affects me in a way fiction rarely ever does, reading it was def sth else. it's indeed a lil baffling that her accidental outing plotline's suddenly dropped near the end: whatever happens after katrina's advice-seeking w/ reese and her friends? whats ames' reaction upon finding out the company supposedly knowing her secret? 

and the book's last 15% and ending are less stellar than the rest, imo. the former feels awkward to me, like the author's trying to tie it all up but ends up veering into a slightly strange territory. i also wish we heard more from ames aside from that bit near the end. as for the ending, it does annoy me w/ how vague and slightly ~kumbaya~ it is, its tone a lil jarring w/ the book's irreverent tone.

even so, this is an undeniably thought-provoking, impactful, and even humorous novel, one that reads like a queer classic, and an amazing and welcoming addition to mainstream trans lit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Infidelity, Dysphoria, Outing, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Abortion

redrosemoth's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is complex with interesting and imperfect characters. My only critique is the plot overall didn’t go very far and I wish it had. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Abortion, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Outing, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Toxic friendship