Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

210 reviews

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Abortion, Transphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Self harm, Stalking, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Eating disorder, Genocide, Death of parent, and Antisemitism

karol99's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Infertility, Miscarriage, Outing, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Transphobia

wrenjuniper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Nothing happened, and it was very sad and all the main characters are just terrible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Outing

thepermageek's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-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

First off, I need to just come out & say it:
There are no heroes in this book. 

Every single character is super flawed (like all humans really). Which is one of the reasons I loved it! Another reason is that it accurately depicts life for city-dwelling trans people (and in particular trans women) in the 21st century. 

For instance, some of the settings include picnics in the park, queer dance parties, funerals, & sex workers' clients' apartments. 

FYI there are some pretty rough moments in the book depicting violence & internalized transphobic narratives so if yr trans probably best to read it when yr in a good (enough) headspace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Grief and Suicide

diano's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

brnineworms's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Messy bitches all round.
Exceptionally well-written, until the ending where it felt like the brakes were slammed; it faltered then just kind of stopped, and not in a satisfyingly unsatisfying way. Still, I liked it a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Outing, Dysphoria, Sexism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Abortion, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Blood, Chronic illness, Suicide, Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Murder, Racism, Eating disorder, Trafficking, Car accident, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Colonisation

shirtypantser's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

0.75

The writing is good, the story is not. 

The premise is stupid (I don't say that lightly), the two trans characters are unlikeable and one is unredeemable. Racism, sexism both present on a regular basis in this. Author went pretty deep on fetishes but didn't quite pull off the point I think they were going for. I'm horrified this book is out there representing the trans fem community. This book gives the impression it was written by someone that doesn't actually like or much respect trans women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Ableism, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Physical abuse

sarah_eggleton's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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

It took a while for me to see where the story was headed but once I did I was hooked. The characterisation is perfect, Peters doesn’t hold back with laying them bare for the reader but also each other, and you feel very connected with Reece and Ames especially which helps you understand their relationship and underpins the entire plot. Genius, I loved it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Transphobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Outing

confusedchameleon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

Peters writes in an approachable, human way which puts the feelings and rich internal lives of her characters front and centre. Those characters are well-rounded, believable individuals whose lives are traced all the way from their current situation back to their childhood. This gives us a self-awarely Freudian perspective on their development as people, and allows us to understand their feelings and selves very intimately.

All of these above facts are true, and all are credit to this book and its author's writing skill, however the thing about this book that really absorbed me in thought and left me there was its portrayal of motherhood. The perspectives the novel's feminine dyad - Reese and Katrina - have on motherhood left me thinking for a long time, and presented some ideas on trans parenting and the desire to be a parent that I haven't seen explored before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide and Transphobia

Minor: Miscarriage

mmatti300's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

5.0

I loved this book and I am excited to check out Torrey Peters' short stories (which are free on her website for anyone curious). I think that the reflections that this story provided on womanhood, motherhood, and queer identity are incredibly important. It was refreshing to hear about trans experiences from a more nuanced position while I also think that the fact that every character is in some way an outsider to particular experiences is incredibly interesting and important. This a book that will stick with me for a very long time and has put me on a Sex and the City craze. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Transphobia, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Pregnancy, and Outing