Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Detransition, Baby

What defines a family? Ames, currently living as a man, gets his boss, Karina, a cis woman, pregnant. While a family is something he has always wanted, he doubts his ability to fulfill the masculine role of father as he still feels like a trans woman at heart. So, Ames reconnects with his former partner, Reese, a trans woman, to see if she would like to parent with them. Ames believes that Reese will be able to understand Ames and make this parenting arrangement less cisnormative. Eventually, Karina warms up to the parenting arrangement and develops a relationship with Reese. Over time, Karina develops a more nuanced understanding of gender and family structure.

This book was such an interesting read and unlike anything, I had ever read before. I loved the nuanced approach to family and was excited to see how the book played out. Peters examines the characters’ past and present to help us understand how it informs their current situation. There is also a nuanced understanding of gender, which made me realize why someone may detransition while not coming off as anti-trans. These characters are beautifully complicated, and I loved getting to know them. I also loved how it didn’t shy away from Karina’s grappling with the whole situation, and I think that was realistic to how a situation like this would play out in real life. I loved Reese and Karina getting to know each other; it was a bright spot in a heavy book.

Since I’m cisgender, I’m hesitant to list out weaknesses of this book related to the characters. Ultimately, it’s not my place to say whether or not this book was one accurate portrayal of trans people. I was disappointed in the ending because I wanted to see their decision and how their lives turned out. A time jump for the last chapter would’ve sufficed. Some metaphors and concepts were hard to follow, and I had to read them 25 times. I assume the author just got excited while writing and went hard. One thing I will say is I wondered how the trans community felt about the repeated use of the word “transexual” or Reese’s affinity for married men.

Overall, I found this book to be interesting and a great first read of 2023. I might be biased because I love character explorations and stories about families. I would recommend this book to most people, particularly those with a more advanced understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. I wouldn’t recommend this story to my mom because she may take away that trans people are unhappy once they transition and want to transition back. This book requires a nuanced understanding of gender to grasp fully.

Content Warnings

queerbookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm conflicted about this book. I did think it was a good book but I also didn't really like it. It was well written, or at least sounded well written, and it was a good story, but I think that it was maybe the characters that made me not enjoy it, but the characters had to be who they are for the story to be what it is.

So yeah, good book even though I personally just didn't feel very good while listening to it.

Content Warnings

malayapapaya's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny slow-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

michaelion's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

mischka's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

This book is a wild ride! The author has some kinds of people in certain queer circles down to a T. Other parts of how they go trough (queer and non-queer) life is completely unknown to me, but that's part of where the fun comes in. Exploring the world through the characters lenses is intriguing. For me personally there was a little to much focus on sex and Kinderwunsch, but well, the second one is basically in the title so. I knew what I was getting into.

Content Warnings

nohousekey's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

More...