Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

16 reviews

lydiaie's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Outing, Transphobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Addiction, Grief, Physical abuse, and Suicide

charley0796's review

dark emotional hopeful informative slow-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

4.0

A beautiful reflection of queerness in all its forms and one of the first fully queer books I’ve read, definitely the first trans book I read (despite being pan myself).  I’m so glad it was my first!
I loved the imperfect characters and the development of Katrina. I learnt so much about trans culture, class and gender through this book - an unbiased lesson. It gives you unapologetic insight into what life is like as a trans person and lets you know the answers to questions you’ve never been able to ask.
The characters hooked me, and resonated with my own queer realisation - so much so that when I realised the last paragraph was indeed the last paragraph I cried out. 
However, I was not a fan of the constant jumping back and forth into chapters that weren’t linked to the plot or clearly linked to understanding the characters. At times the language frustratingly descriptive and flowery - I wish bits of this were cut to make room for an ending that didn’t feel rushed, especially given the otherwise slow pace of the book. Perhaps a sequel will answer my burning question?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism

bookswithleesh's review

challenging emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

melinarowin's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Drug use, and Physical abuse

The entire book is full of realistic depictions of the violence and mental illness that accompanies being an out trans person, and it is the focus of the book.

yavin_iv's review

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, Medical content, Blood, and Death

Minor: Addiction and Deadnaming

whatjaimereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Detransition, Baby follows the story of two and a half women, their joint foray into the world of queer parenting, and what it means to be yourself when that self is an interloper to society.
The discussions within this book around gender, fetishisation, and parenthood are handled fluidly, and sensitively, and are unique to any other queer fiction that I’ve read. Peters has written deeply realistic, multi-faceted characters that each offer their own insight into the struggles faced by marginalised communities. This novel is driven by its characters and discussions of their flaws, and it visibly benefits from the author’s Own Voice perspective as a queer woman. 
However, this insight comes with the weight of knowledge that the reflections in Detransition, Baby are true-to-life. There is a huge amount of graphic, sensitive content, and some of the storytelling can become over-indulgent within these areas. Our cast of characters are all suffering from deep trauma in their past/present, which makes for some really heavy reading. By about chapter 9 I was completely emotionally exhausted, so I urge you to proceed with caution. 
This is not the book that I was expecting from its synopsis, but it probes some really important topics, and for that reason it is undeniably an important read. 
*ARC gifted by Serpents Tail in exchange for an honest review*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia